It’s a sobering thought that approximately 95% of people who suffer a sudden cardiac arrest will die before they reach hospital. This figure could be transformed into a survival rate of 70% if more locally available defibrillators were in place.
At NovaCast, we have been working with London Hearts, an organisation set up to help facilitate public access defibrillators across the UK and now have one installed outside of our head office in Bowerhill, Melksham. Having a publicly accessible defibrillator is great news for the local community but its benefits are limited if people don’t know it is there, or how to find it quickly in an emergency.
There are an estimated 100,000 defibrillators across the UK, however, tens of thousands of these are unknown to ambulance and emergency services. Once located and registered, emergency services can direct bystanders to their nearest defibrillator and increase a person’s chance of survival.
That’s why our defibrillator is registered with The Circuit National Defibrillator Network. This network maps defibrillators across the UK, connecting them directly and automatically to the ambulance service. In our case, this is the South West Ambulance service.
To find your nearest defibrillator for all units registered with The Circuit, you can access Defib Finder web App using this link: https://www.defibfinder.uk/, simply enter your location and the app will provide location, directions, and access information.