Scarborough emergency services launch campaign to support installation of life-saving defibrillators

North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and Yorkshire Ambulance Service came together to support the work of the British Heart Foundation, which launched today in Filey and Eastfield as part of Operation Cracker.

The campaign encourages businesses, schools and sports facilities to install life-saving community Public Access Defibrillators (cPAD), which are available 24 hours a day.

Inspector Andy Short, of Filey and Eastfield Police, said: “By supporting the work of the British Heart Foundation in this way we hope to ensure that life-saving defibrillators are rapidly available to anyone who suffers a cardiac arrest."

Every year in the UK more than 30,000 people suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, but less than one in ten people survive.

However, the foundation’s ambition is to see survival rates tripled by 2030 by giving more people the skills and confidence to perform CPR and making public defibrillators more readily available.

Inspector Short continued: “All our operational staff are trained to give first aid and use defibrillators.

“At the same time, the cardiac arrest campaign will help to teach people what to do in the event of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

“We have a long tradition of making a positive contribution to the community we’re based in, and this commitment builds on that.

“We hope our support will help the British Heart Foundation fulfil its ambition of significantly improving cardiac arrest survival rates in the coming years.”

Immediate CPR and defibrillation can double a person’s chances of surviving a cardiac arrest in some cases.

It is estimated that public access defibrillators are currently used in less than one in ten out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.

The life-saving initiative is part of Operation Cracker, a wide-ranging partnership drawing in support and expertise from a range of different organisations.

As part of the partnership, all the Operation Cracker defibrillators will be registered on The Circuit – a national defibrillator network.

The Circuit enables 999 call handlers to direct bystanders to their nearest defibrillator if they see someone suffer a cardiac arrest.

The defibrillators will be placed on walls outside the sites to ensure they’re available regardless of the time of day.

The education campaign will also be aimed at school-aged children in the area who will also be trained in CPR skills. It focuses on key public access defibrillator placement, and care of all of those impacted by an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.