A PARENT'S plight to introduce a heart screening clinic in Barrow following the sudden death of their son has proved a success.

BAE Systems worker, Dave Hughes, has been campaigning for a heart screening clinic for the Barrow area since February.

After months of campaigning, BAE Systems kindly offered to fund the clinic, which costs up to £5,000 per day.

Up to 100 of the company's early careers personnel will be screened in Barrow on Wednesday July 14.

Mr Hughes said: "I’m really pleased that BAE has agreed to fund and stage these screenings here in Barrow.

"Hopefully it will be the start of a yearly programme of screenings which can be opened out to the workforce and maybe even the wider community.

"The benefits are two fold really; firstly the individuals who will be undergoing the screenings will get to know if they have a heart problem they are not currently aware of which may have serious consequences for them and secondly for BAE it is a way of ensuring they have a fit and healthy workforce for many years to come.

"It’s a win-win situation. The more young people we can screen the better.

"If there are any other organisations or groups who would like more information about CRY and heart screening then they should get in touch."

Mr Hughes has been campaigning for more heart screening tests since his 28-year-old son Daniel died peacefully in his sleep from an undiagnosed heart defect which caused Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS).

Up until this point, Daniel had been a fit and healthy young man, playing football every weekend and regularly attending his local gym.

After his death, his parents teamed up with heart screening charity, Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), which provides screening for young people between the ages of 14 and 35 years.

Since then, the couple have campaigned for heart screening's closer to home.

Mr Hughes said: "BAE's Safety, Health and Environment Director Ian Burns had read my son Daniels story in advance of a meeting I arranged with him.

"From the outset he was extremely positive and keen to set up a screening day for the benefit of a number of the younger employees within the shipyard.

"It was very refreshing to deal with someone who could see the benefits of what we are trying to achieve with CRY

"Hopefully the impact the screenings will have will help to raise awareness throughout the region as well which can only be a good thing."