Shropshire Star

Shropshire ambulance bosses to pilot life-saving map

Ambulance bosses covering Shropshire and the West Midlands today spoke about taking the lead in a new project that sets out to map every public defibrillator in the UK – with the potential of helping to save thousands of lives.

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Mayor of Wellington Cindy Mason-Morris and Telford First Responders chair Nick Freeman hand over a defibrillator at Bowring District Park

The NHS, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Microsoft have joined forces for the project and the scheme is being piloted by West Midlands Ambulance Service.

It is hoped the project will help bystanders who witness someone going into cardiac arrest to become life-savers.

Information about the availability of the devices, which give a high energy electric shock to the heart, is patchy and not all are known to ambulance services.

The BHF says this is leading to a needless loss of lives, as 999 call handlers are unable to direct bystanders to their nearest defibrillator when someone suffers a cardiac arrest.

Tens of thousands of defibrillators have been placed in workplaces, train stations, leisure centres and public places across the country.

This project hopes to map all of them, creating a UK-wide database which will eventually be available to all emergency services and the public.

It comes as a newly-formed community group has successfully campaigned for a defibrillator at its local park.

Friends of Bowring Park is a group put together to ensure the park in Wellington is looked after and used to its full potential.

It has now secured a defibrillator to be housed at the Bowring Park Cafe which can be used by anyone in need.

Kath Howard, group co-ordinator, said: “It’s wonderful that we’ve been able to get this put in place.

“It will be able to be used by members of the public as well as any first-aiders that may need one to hand quickly.

“Our group has a number of ideas to improve Bowring Park and make it the best it can be, and we’re looking forward to properly forming and making these changes.”

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The group contacted Telford First Responders, which has received a lottery grant to replace current defibrillators around the borough. The defibrillator will be initially stored inside the cafe, which is open three days a week, before future plans can be put in place to secure it outside the cafe in a permanent cabinet.

Figures show public access defibrillators are currently used in less than three per cent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, significantly reducing the survival chances of tens of thousands of people every year.

West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) is piloting the scheme to improve that figure, ahead of a UK-wide roll out.

Nick Henry, who is leading on the project for WMAS, said that while the ambulance service knows the whereabouts of about 4,500 defibrillators across its region, there are likely to be many more life-saving devices that have fallen under the radar.

He said: “By mapping defibrillators we can make sure they are on our system.

“We believe there are more out there that we don’t know about.

“There are lots of websites and apps that say where they are, but this project is about mapping them in one place.

“By mapping the country, when we respond to calls on the border of a county we can see where the closest defibrillator might be over the boundary. It can save lives.”

WMAS will be helping to develop a comprehensive network of defibrillators and will carry out testing before going live with the project in April or May next year. Another pilot is taking place with the Scottish Ambulance Service, and the project is expected to eventually be rolled out across the UK.

Mr Henry added: “It’s a great honour to be working with BHF, we’ve worked with them before.

“We are here trying to save as many lives as we can but the sooner someone can get the help they require they will have a better chance of survival.

“The defibrillators are simple to use and they will talk anyone through how to use them.”

Anyone can play role in helping community

British Heart Foundation has a campaign to increase the number of defibrillators – and can also help with funding.

Anyone can play a vital role in helping save lives in their community by applying online for funding to have a public access defibrillator, known as a Pad, and call push rescue training kit.

After calling 999 and performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, using a defibrillator is the best way to increase the chances of someone surviving a cardiac arrest.

Anyone wishing to apply for a public access defibrillator must create an account and submit the online form through the British Heart Foundation website.

The application will be reviewed and the charity will then contact make contact. Before submitting an application, it is worth contacting your ambulance service, which may be able to advise on a suitable model, location and cabinet for the public access defibrillator.

If the application is approved, you will need to make a donation of £600 towards the cost of the package. However, you do not need to start fundraising for this amount before your application has been approved. The defibrillator must be freely accessible to the public 24/7 and be placed externally in an unlocked and un-coded cabinet

There must be a clear need for the device – for example the location with high footfall or in a rural area. For details visit bhf.org.uk or contact the charity on 0131 5613363.