University of Gloucestershire is providing free heart screening to its community of students and staff, and their family members, who may have an underlying heart condition, which can often have no symptoms.

As part of its long-running Stop the Heartbreak campaign, the university will hold a screening day at its Oxstalls Campus in Gloucester, in collaboration with national charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).

According to CRY, which works to reduce the frequency of young sudden cardiac death (YSCD), at least 12 apparently fit and healthy young people aged 35 and under die from undiagnosed heart conditions every week in the UK.

On Wednesday, April 30, university students, staff and their family members aged 14 to 34 will be able to undergo an electrocardiogram, or ECG, carried out by CRY's cardiac physiologists and assessed by one of CRY's specially trained cardiology doctors.

The screening is being jointly funded by the Stop the Heartbreak Campaign, which the university launched in 2013, and the Ashley Goodwin Memorial Fund.

Ashley Goodwin died suddenly from a previously undiagnosed heart condition in July 2007, the day after his 35th birthday and four weeks before completing his training to become a police officer.

For almost two decades, Ashley's parents, Linda and Geoffrey, with the help of family, friends and the wider local community, have been supporting CRY's work through fundraising and awareness and a determination to bring cardiac screening to young people in Gloucestershire.

Since the launch of this joint initiative, more than 1,000 young people have been screened.

Screening with an ECG can identify conditions such as heart muscle disorders and electrical faults of the heart in people who are not showing any symptoms of cardiac disorders.

Depending on the results of the ECG, participants will be offered the opportunity to undergo an ultrasound (echocardiogram) scan of the heart to provide further information about heart function and structure of the heart. Where necessary, they will be referred to their GP with details of any further tests and investigations required.

Research shows that one in every 300 young people screened by CRY will be identified with a potentially fatal (if left untreated and unmonitored) heart condition.

Eve Scarle, associate head (outreach and engagement) of the university's School of Health and Social Care, said: "Since we started holding our heart screening day in collaboration with CRY in 2013, a number of students, staff and local people have been diagnosed with underlying heart problems, of which they were previously unaware.

"We're pleased to be working with CRY to continue to support the health and wellbeing of our community of students and staff, and their families, by offering these annual heart screening opportunities.

"It's part of our determination to do all we can to promote, support and protect the health and wellbeing of our students and staff, as well as members of the local community, which includes access to 13 defibrillators across our locations in Gloucester and Cheltenham.

"Screening is vital, because many heart conditions that affect young people do not present with symptoms until it is too late, and they suffer a cardiac arrest.

"We want to work to detect these conditions so that young people can receive the right treatment and support for the conditions and reduce the number of young people dying from cardiac arrests."

Dr Steven Cox, chief executive of CRY, said: "Every week, 12 young (aged 35 and under) people in the UK die suddenly from a previously undiagnosed heart condition.

"In 80% of these cases, there will have been no signs or symptoms of a heart defect, which is why CRY believes screening is so vitally important, particularly for those involved in sport and regular physical activity.

"As such, CRY tests around 30,000 young people aged 14 to 35 each year across the UK, and has screened more than 315,000 hearts, at no cost to the individual when they come along to a CRY event.

"As CRY receives no government funding, our screening programme is only possible because of the support received from those affected by the tragedy of young sudden cardiac death, like Ashley's family, as well as businesses, organisations and sports and educational institutions, such as University of Gloucestershire.

"On behalf of CRY, I'd like to thank everyone involved with Stop the Heartbreak for their ongoing efforts in helping to bring cardiac screening to students, staff and the local community."

Linda Goodwin said: "On 21st July 2007, our lives were changed forever when our apparently fit and healthy son, Ashley, died having suffered a cardiac arrest.

"He had taken part in the London Marathon in 2005 and 2006 and was in the process of completing his police training course, so it was virtually impossible for us to come to terms with his sudden death, when he was simply sitting on a sofa making notes.

"In the months that followed, we became aware of the wonderful charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY). With their help, support and love we realised that we were now part of a wider family, albeit one that none of us would have wished for.

"We soon learnt that, in addition to bereavement support, research and sponsorship of doctors specialising in cardiac disease, CRY also undertook national screening programmes. CRY is the only organisation that offers free screening to those between the ages of 14 and 35 without a referral to the NHS by a GP.

"The funding costs are met by bereaved families and organisations such as University of Gloucestershire via their own campaign, Stop the Heartbreak.

"For every life saved through early diagnosis, so are those of parents, siblings friends and, in some cases, partners and children, who will not have to endure the feeling of loss that we and hundreds of other families have."