Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions she has had with (a) the British Heart Foundation and (b) other relevant organisations on the survival rate of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside of hospital.

Department officials met with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and NHS England in November 2023 to discuss access to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) and AED cabinets. Officials also attended a workshop co-hosted by the BHF and NHS England in January 2024, on the same issue.

To improve survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases, the Government launched a new £1 million one-off fund that will expand community access to AEDs. The grant was made available from September 2023. We estimated 1,000 new defibrillators would be provided by the fund, with the potential for this to double as most applicants would be asked to match the funding they receive partially or fully. To date, the grant has successfully delivered 2,000 AEDs.

Applications for AEDs are selected in line with criteria to provide AEDs where there is greatest need. The criteria include remote communities with extended ambulance response times, places with high footfall and high population densities, hotspots for cardiac arrest including sporting venues and venues with vulnerable people, and deprived areas.