Matt Vickers joins leading charities to call for defibrillator owners in Stockton South to help save thousands of lives from cardiac arrests by registering their devices.
Matt Vickers has joined leading charities and health organisations to urge defibrillator owners in Stockton South to register their devices on a new national database, called The Circuit, which could help save thousands of lives from cardiac arrests in the coming years.
There are more than 30,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests every year in the UK, but less than one in ten people survive. Every minute that passes without CPR or defibrillation reduces the chances of survival by up to 10 per cent, but immediate CPR and defibrillation can more than double the chances of survival.
The BHF, RCUK, St John Ambulance and AACE, warn that the UK’s low survival rate is likely to be in part because public access defibrillators are used in less than one in 10 out of hospital cardiac arrests. This is often because 999 call handlers aren’t always aware that a defibrillator is available nearby because the ambulance service hasn’t been told about it. If they don’t know it is there, they can’t direct someone at the scene to retrieve it while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
The Circuit, which is already live in 12 of the 14 ambulance service regions across the UK and will become nationwide soon, could help to save thousands of lives – but it is vital that as many defibrillators as possible are registered on the database for it to work effectively.
Those who own and maintain defibrillators, also called defibrillator guardians, can still register their devices in areas that are not yet live on The Circuit, ready for when their ambulance services come online.
It is estimated that there are tens of thousands of defibrillators which are still to be registered on the new system. To make sure opportunities to save lives aren’t being missed, the organisations are aiming to see 70,000 additional defibrillators unknown to The Circuit registered by the end of the year.
Mr Vickers said:
“The residents of Stockton South are amongst some of the most charitable in the country. Earlier this year, residents of Yarm spectacularly crowd funded £5,000 for 2 defibrillators for their local area.
“Now, we need to make sure that defibrillators like the ones soon to go up in Yarm are put to the best use possible. This is why I am joining the calls from numerous charities and health organisations to urge defibrillator owners across our area to register their devices on the new national database.
“This will allow ambulance services to locate defibrillators quickly and efficiently in the event of an emergency. This could be the difference between life and death for many.”
