Issue details

To consider the allocation of funding and resources to enable the effective provision of a defibrillator at each of the Borough’s Community Centres and to provide training for the use of defibrillators to the staff and user groups of these facilities.

Every year across the United Kingdom more than 30,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest.  Of this number less than one in ten currently survives.  Swift access to Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation is a key influential factor to these survival rates. 

Defibrillators are simple and safe to use. Once in position, the defibrillator detects the heart's rhythm and it will not deliver a shock unless one is needed. If the heart has stopped, high-voltage (200–1000 volts) pads will pass an electric current through the heart so that it is shocked into working normally again.

The Government, working in partnership with the British Heart Foundation, has announced £1 million of funding to provide free defibrillators for public places.   

This report presents the funding criteria and the options available to the Council to help ensure the best defibrillator coverage across the Borough’s community centres.