Funded by £1.8m from the British Heart Foundation (BHF), the device is used to shock the heart if it goes into cardiac arrest.
Over 2,500 patients are due to be recruited across the UK for the trial in the next three years.
Phil O’Donoghue, 53, was the first patient to be implanted with the new technology. He suffers from non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM), a common type of heart failure which can lead to abnormal heart rhythms, and sudden cardiac arrests are a possible cause of death in these patients.
After being diagnosed with a heart condition during the first Covid-19 lockdown in May 2020, he said the diagnosis had a big effect on his day-to-day life.
“I can’t do the things I want to do if it means exerting myself,” he added. “I had to change what I did at physically at work.”
O’Donoghue was on medication for two-and-a-half years but then suffered further episodes in January this year and then again in March.
“I was rushed into hospital and tests...