Maria Caulfield, Member of Parliament for Lewes, is thrilled to welcome the £1 million fund which will increase defibrillators in the community by an estimated 1,000 in England.
Maria, who has campaigned nationally for years access to more defibrillators outlines that organisations will be invited to bid to place defibrillators in areas most in need and successful bidders will be asked to match funding, potentially doubling the number of new defibrillators. Places include those with high footfall, vulnerable people, rural areas, or due to the nature of activity at the site.
The Department of Health and Social Care will invest the funding through an independent partner in the new year who will manage grant applications from bidding organisations. Those selected will be asked to match the funding they receive fully or partially, potentially doubling the number of new defibrillators created by the fund.
Examples could include town halls, community centres, local shops, post offices and local parks, to ensure that defibrillators are evenly spread throughout communities and easily accessible if someone is experiencing an unexpected cardiac arrest.
Maria Caulfield MP said:
“It’s brilliant that the Conservative government has produced a grant for more defibrillators in the community and I am very pleased and know residents in my constituency of Lewes will be very pleased with this news. It is so important that residents are equipped with the knowledge, skills and equipment they need to be able to save a life if the times comes, and access to a defibrillator can mean the difference between life and death for a person who is going into cardiac arrest.”
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive at the British Heart Foundation said:
For every minute without CPR or defibrillation, a person’s chances of survival from an out of hospital cardiac arrest decreases by 10%, so we welcome this move to improve access to defibrillators in communities across England.
We urge anyone who looks after a defibrillator in their community, workplace or sports club to ensure that it is registered on The Circuit so that the ambulance services will know where it is in an emergency.