Defibrillators

Debate between Jonathan Gullis and Alan Mak

Wednesday 20th March 2024 Westminster Hall

[Alan Mak (Havant) (Con)]

I thank my hon. Friend for securing the debate and for giving such an excellent speech. Hayling Island Community Responders is a voluntary emergency response group in the Havant constituency. The responders carry defibrillators and train volunteers to use them. They are often the first people on the scene in a medical emergency. Will my hon. Friend and my right hon. Friend the Minister join me in supporting community responders, encouraging more defibrillator training and encouraging more volunteers to join community medical response groups across the country?

[Jonathan Gullis]

I thank my hon. Friend for the undoubted effort that he puts in regularly in his constituency to raise the profile of that fantastic community group of dedicated volunteers. That relates to the point made earlier by my right hon. Friend the Member for South Staffordshire (Sir Gavin Williamson). These groups, who go in day and day out, do not expect much money at all, but try to do everything that they can at cost, in their own time, to literally save lives. I wholeheartedly congratulate the organisation that my hon. Friend the Member for Havant (Alan Mak) referred to, and I congratulate him on using this opportunity to mention its name and ensure that it is in Hansard for all the right reasons. Ultimately, those people are lifesavers, quite literally, and without them our community would be poorer. I am grateful to him for giving me an opportunity to praise them.

It is vital that “defibrillator guardians” register their device on The Circuit, so that ambulance services can access their data. The national view provided by The Circuit means that if 999 is called in the west midlands but the call handlers of the West Midlands Ambulance Service are all busy, the call can be diverted to call handlers elsewhere, who can locate the nearest defibrillator if it has been registered.

By creating a comprehensive AED map, The Circuit provides data identifying where defibrillators are needed. The “Complete The Circuit” campaign by the Express led to a further 16,000 defibrillators being registered, but we need to ensure that every lifesaving device is registered. I hope the Minister will be able to clarify whether the Government will pursue that.

Since becoming the chair of the APPG in January 2023, I have made a conscious effort to monitor public access to defibrillators in my constituency of Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke. I have visited several local organisations and groups over the past year to see what access they have to a defibrillator. For example, in October 2023, I was delighted to visit Linley and Kidsgrove rugby club, which had written to me earlier last year about getting a defibrillator on site. It was an honour and a privilege to present the club with a CellAED, which will ensure the wellbeing and safety of players, spectators and the wider community. The device is portable, meaning that it can be taken to away games, too, which could prove vital.

It was also fantastic to visit the Jolly Carter pub in Middleport, which installed a defibrillator late last year after a charity drive to raise funding for one. When I met the landlady, Nicola Fisher, I was surprised to hear that the defibrillator had already saved the life of a man involved in a car crash. The Ford Green pub, which I visited in May, also got its own defibrillator last year, thanks to the hard fundraising efforts of Jayne Bushell and her team. The pub is at the heart of a very busy local community, and the defibrillator could help save lives. And a defibrillator that I personally donated towards—thanks to Mr Rob Matthews bringing the campaign for it to my attention—is now located on Chell Heath Road in the Bradeley and Chell Heath ward. Slowly but surely, public access to defibrillators is improving, but it is essential that we do everything we can to rapidly speed up the process to better protect the public.

The APPG’s report suggested mandating that every emergency vehicle must have a defibrillator. At an APPG session in May last year we heard the tragic story of Naomi Issitt, who tragically lost her 18-year-old son Jamie because a defibrillator was not available when he collapsed at two in the morning. Shamefully, ambulances did not arrive within the required response time, and the police car was not equipped with a defibrillator despite the force believing it had one. The sad reality is simple: had the police car been equipped with a defibrillator, Jamie might still be with us today.

The APPG also found that only one in 11 police cars have access to a defibrillator. We sent freedom of information requests to all the police forces in the UK, and we found that many forces have defibrillators in less than 1.5% of vehicles. We met a representative of Lancashire police who told us that the majority of specialist police vehicles—roads and armed-response vehicles—already carry defibrillators, but most standard police vehicles do not.

Putting a defibrillator in every emergency vehicle and ensuring that all emergency workers know how to use them could help save lives. If only ambulances and specialist police vehicles have these lifesaving devices then there is a high possibility that a police officer could get to the scene of a cardiac arrest and be unable to help in the way that they would wish. Jamie’s death should be a wake-up call. I urge the Minister to consider urging emergency services to better protect the public and ensure that all vehicles are equipped with these lifesaving devices.

Alongside improving access to defibrillators, we need to ensure that people know how to use them. As a former teacher, I know just how important education is in developing people’s understanding of key issues like this. The APPG made it clear that integrating comprehensive first aid training with a strong focus on CPR and defibrillator use can play a pivotal role in equipping younger generations with lifesaving skills. I am pleased that every state school is now mandated to have a defibrillator through the Government’s Defibs4Schools programme. That is an important step forward in widening access to defibrillators, and saving lives as a result.

However, there is a concern that legislation fails to mandate that schools must store their defibrillators on the outside of buildings. I sadly need to revisit the tragic story of Naomi Issitt. She told me in an evidence session that, as well as the issues surrounding the emergency services’ lacklustre critical response time, Jamie had collapsed near a school that had a defibrillator equipped, but because the defibrillator was located inside the school premises, it was inaccessible. The APPG and I agree that it is essential that defibrillators in schools and other public places are accessible 24/7 to heighten the chances of survival through quick access to a defibrillator.

Alongside having physical access to a defibrillator, it is vital that the public are aware how to use them. The fact that the survival rate is depressingly low is due in part to the lack of skills and confidence in performing lifesaving CPR among the UK population. With survival dependent on rapid support, it is the responsibility of policymakers and politicians to campaign to ensure that as many people as possible have those lifesaving skills.

According to a survey of over 4,000 adults conducted by YouGov, over a third have never learned CPR. Nearly half cited a lack of awareness about where to learn, and a quarter of respondents said they lacked the confidence to learn. Those figures are striking. We need to find radical solutions to better equip the public with the skills needed to save lives.

The APPG and I heard from Dr Thomas Keeble, a consultant cardiologist and associate professor at Anglia Ruskin University, who revealed that defibrillators are used in only one in 10 cardiac arrests where lifesaving defibrillators are available. His research revealed that not only are people inadequately equipped with lifesaving CPR skills, but they lack the confidence to use a defibrillator when it is available.

The APPG and I have met some incredibly inspiring individuals and groups over the past 12 months, including Mark King from the Oliver King Foundation. The foundation was established in 2012 following the tragic death of 12-year-old Oliver at a school in Liverpool. Oliver died from sudden arrhythmic death syndrome, a hidden heart condition that kills 12 young people every week. The foundation, set up by Oliver’s father, Mark, provides training in defibrillator awareness and first aid, and has placed 5,900 lifesaving devices in schools and organisations across the United Kingdom. At an APPG session, the foundation emphasised the importance of education, telling me that confidence is key when using a defibrillator, and that removing the fear factor is vital when teaching children how to use it.

The Defibs4Schools programme is a welcome step, but I urge the Minister to consider rolling out CPR training in primary schools. In addition, it is essential that we extend the regulations to ensure that defibrillators should be part of first aid sessions too. These are simple yet effective ways to bridge the gap and empower individuals to become first responders from a young age.

Alongside bettering young people’s understanding and confidence with defibrillators in schools, the APPG has heard that many European countries require people to undertake first aid training to complete a driving test. That is another way in which we can help to develop public awareness and, ultimately, save lives. In Switzerland, applicants must demonstrate that they have undertaken 10 hours of first aid instruction from a Government-approved company to complete their theory test. Germany also requires seven hours of first aid training—nine lessons of 45 minutes each—for all categories of driving licence. Similar models are used in the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary and the Baltic states. In the UK, around two thirds of young people aged between 21 and 29 have a driving licence. That presents us with a remarkable opportunity to empower a significant portion of the population with life-saving capabilities.

Let me turn to VAT on defibrillators. Defibrillators vary in cost, but the average unit is around £1,250. That is a considerable expense for many groups, charities and sports clubs, especially considering that a sizeable portion of that is the 20% VAT. On average, small businesses, community groups, charities and private users must pay added tax on top of all defibrillator purchases, bringing costs up by £200 to £500 per defibrillator.

I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Will Quince) regularly raised this when he was a Minister in the Department. Sadly, he could not make it to this debate, but he wanted to reiterate his support for the Government to re-evaluate this. Some charities are exempt from paying VAT on defibrillators: not-for-profit hospitals; charitable institutions that provide care or medical or surgical treatment for disabled people; and rescue or first aid services. However, most sports clubs and community groups do not qualify.

Last summer, I visited AED Donate, as my right hon. Friend the Member for South Staffordshire has mentioned. It obviously supports the placement and use of automated external defibrillators in local communities. It told me that the removal of VAT would have allowed them to install another 223 additional defibrillators in communities in 2023—they could not do that because of VAT. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response to that.

Improving survival rates for sudden cardiac arrest rests on increasing public access to defibrillators. It is of paramount importance that we tackle the clear barriers that are preventing lives from being saved by improving public access in disadvantaged areas and through better education. I hope that this debate, which I thank all my hon. and right hon. Friends for engaging with, will raise awareness and that the Minister will take some of my suggestions on board.