Tributes have been paid to cardiologist Douglas Chamberlain, with one saying: “He didn’t just save lives. He transformed how we save them.”

Professor Chamberlain died on Wednesday (21 May) at the age of 94, having spent most of his career working at Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton.

But his reach was worldwide and – as the father of the paramedic profession and a pioneering teacher of life-saving techniques – he became something of a hero to patients and even fellow professionals.

A&E consultant Rob Galloway, who works at the Royal Sussex, said that he was “the most inspirational of doctors I’ve ever met”.

Professor Galloway said: “There are countless that owe their life to him but he was so humble he would never recognise that.

“He was the definition of a hero and legend to so many of us. The world is a better place because of him.”

Consultant paramedic Jaqui Lindridge, from the South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb), said: “Secamb is very proud and is fortunate to have had an extremely close working relationship with Professor Chamberlain for many years.

“He will be remembered extremely fondly by colleagues past and present.

“Douglas’s work in the early 1970s led to the birth of the UK paramedic profession in Brighton, as the first ‘ambulance men’, who had been selected for additional training by him, began to respond to patients equipped with the first ambulance defibrillators.

“We would like to pay tribute to Douglas for his tireless work over the decades in striving for better outcomes for people suffering cardiac arrests in the community.

“A large portrait of Douglas takes pride of place at our Make Ready Centre in Brighton, Chamberlain House, which was opened and named in his honour in 2020.

“It is clear that Douglas’s legacy will continue to inspire colleagues in Secamb and beyond and we thank him for his dedication and expertise in improving pre-hospital cardiac care.”

A petition has been started on Change.org for a statue to honour “a hero of emergency medicine”.

The supporting text from Chelsea Lowe said: “He didn’t ask for permission to train the first paramedics. He didn’t worry about the personal or professional ramifications. He just recognised a need and he did it.”

The idea wasn’t popular with everyone but it was inspired by his own experience, as the petition said: “It’s 1970 – Brighton. Doug is doing what consultant cardiologists do, conducting a home visit to see an NHS patient and do some cardiac studies in their lounge.

“Unfortunately, mid-examination his patient goes into sudden cardiac arrest … so he starts CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) and tells the patient’s wife to call for an ambulance.

“At this time this meant a couple of ambulancemen from Brighton Ambulance Service but what Douglas needed was a portable defibrillator.

“After much delay and confusion over this request, two ambulancemen eventually arrived and (carrying the giant device between them) plugged it into the mains.

“The unit exploded and then caught fire, the patient died and Professor Chamberlain summarised the situation in the usual NHS understated way: ‘We ought to be able to do better.’”

He then started training ambulance crew, nurses and fellow doctors and then others in resuscitation techniques and emergency first aid with an almost missionary zeal.

Professor Chamberlain helped to refine and spread the techniques of resuscitation and the training of professionals and the public, going on to write and edit books on the subject.

The petition added: “The last patient Douglas treated was in 2016 when, while taking tea at the Hove Rotary Club, he saw a fellow member collapse.

“Much like 1970, Douglas arranged for an AED (automated external defibrillator) to be fetched, had someone call 999 and (now in his eighties) started CPR.

“He achieved ROSC (return of spontaneous circulation) before the first ambulance crew arrived and remarked that he was glad this one had not exploded.”

He was made a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1988 and an honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) by Sussex University in 1989.

The Change.org concluded: “This man deserves a statue in Brighton.”