THE “JACK’S Appeal” campaign in memory of teenage Jack Thomas to place a heart defibrillator in every secondary school is obviously very emotional and I offer my sincere condolences to Jack’s family and friends. But how to use these machines and just as important, WHEN?

Chest pains don’t necessarily mean heart problems, and if a school nurse wasn’t available a well-meaning staff member could make a wrong diagnosis, use the apparatus and cause even more harm; equally the machine could have been lying on a shelf unused for a long time, gathering dust and developed a fault.

The campaigners’ intentions are very laudable, but in our ever-present compensation culture, encouraging a partly-trained “Joe public” to operate sophisticated medical equipment needs careful thought and consideration.

Mr A. Greenhalgh Ross Street Newport