Defibrillators

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 20th March 2024 Westminster Hall

[Jonathan Gullis]

I could not agree more with my right hon. Friend about the need, which I will come to later, to ensure that devices are registered. Having visited AEDdonate myself, I can say that it is made up of fantastic custodians working incredibly hard, not just in rural Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent but across the country, to make sure there is access. I know that my right hon. Friend is a doughty champion for its cause, as well as for the community he serves in ensuring access to these lifesaving devices.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Jonathan Gullis) for bringing this subject forward. Many in the House, and others, will be aware that I brought the Automated External Defibrillators (Public Access) Bill to the House in 2020. The Government at the time accepted the necessity of having defibrillators in schools, and that was a fantastic milestone in this campaign, which the hon. Gentleman has taken further. Does he agree that it is one thing to have defibrillators installed, but that more must be done to educate people in schools, such as teachers, and teachers’ associations, to use defibrillators properly and make the most out of them, thereby saving more lives?

[Jonathan Gullis]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. He is a great champion for the people of Strangford and it was an honour to visit his local community with him and see the fantastic work that he is doing there. That Bill still has my full support. I will come to the importance of improving education, so that it is not just a one-off. It needs to be repeated year in and year out, so that children in particular are immune to seeing what will be a distressing scene but, most importantly, have the muscle memory and are able to put that lifesaving support into action. The Minister himself is regularly saving lives, not just in his constituency but across his wider region, with the work that he does, so I am sure that he will understand the importance of persistent and regular education and training.

In September last year, I was pleased to see the Department introduce the community automated external defibrillator fund. This £1 million investment will help to increase access to these lifesaving devices and put an extra 2,000 defibrillators on the streets. That is an important step forward by the Department, but I urge the Minister to do far more to address the clear imbalances that I outlined.

The APPG on defibrillators and I have concluded that there is no co-ordinated national strategy to ensure that defibrillators are placed in areas with the highest need. With previous research illustrating that cardiac arrest is more likely in deprived areas, the Government must ensure that those areas have better or at least equal access to lifesaving equipment to more affluent areas. At this moment in time, that is simply not the case.

With over 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK each year and a survival rate of just one in 10, it is crucial that bystanders and emergency responders can locate and access the closest defibrillator immediately. The British Heart Foundation, NHS England, St John Ambulance and Resuscitation Council UK provide the NHS with vital information about the location of defibrillators. The Circuit is a nationwide, data-led map of defibrillators in the United Kingdom. Currently, over 86,000 have been registered, but it is estimated that tens of thousands are still unaccounted for.