Life-saving boost for communities to improve cardiac arrest survival rates

Thirty-three life-saving community public access defibrillators (CPADs) are being installed at ambulance stations across Yorkshire.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service is fitting the defibrillators - which can be accessed by residents in local communities - outside stations which don’t have another CPAD within a 600 metre radius.

Combined with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), defibrillators give cardiac arrest patients the best possible chance of survival.

The initiative originated from Rotherham-based NHS 111 Senior Clinical Advisor/Paramedic Gavin Doxey who made the suggestion as a way of further increasing the number of life-saving devices in the community.

He said: “I’m delighted my idea has been adopted as it will benefit the wider communities of Yorkshire. The equipment will be available as and when required to help save the lives of patients in cardiac arrest.”

Defibrillators give a high energy electric shock to the heart of someone who has suffered a cardiac arrest to restore the heart’s normal rhythm. The devices are easy to use, provide audible instructions to the user and will not deliver a shock unless it is required. No training is required to use the equipment.

Joanne Watson, Community Defibrillation Co-ordinator with the Community Resilience Team at Yorkshire Ambulance Service, has been overseeing the installation programme.

She said: “We all know that defibrillation, along with CPR, are essential steps in the chain of survival. It’s great to be able to provide CPADs outside ambulance stations across Yorkshire so they can be accessed and used by members of the public to help save the lives of patients in cardiac arrest. Anyone who calls 999 for someone in cardiac arrest will be directed to their nearest device and provided with a code to the secure cabinet it’s contained in if necessary.”

Twenty-seven CPADs have already been fitted outside the following ambulance stations:

South Yorkshire

Barnsley, Industry Road

Hoyland, Hawshaw Lane

Batemoor, Batemoor Road, Sheffield

NHS 111 Call Centre, Doncaster Road, Wath-upon-Derne

Longley, Crowder Road, Sheffield

Maltby, Rotherham Road, Rotherham

Middlewood, Middlewood Road, Sheffield

Penistone, Springvale Depot

Rotherham, Moorgate Road

Wath, Doncaster Road

Doncaster, Coopers Mill Business Park

West Yorkshire

Bradford, Northside Road

Bramley, Railsfield Rise

Dewsbury, Bretton Street

Wakefield, Brunswick Street

South Kirkby, Langthwaite Road, Pontefract

Manor Mill, Manor Mill Lane, Leeds

East Yorkshire

Bridlington, Bessingby Road

Driffield, Victoria Road

Hull East, Burma Drive

Sutton Fields, Copenhagen Road, Hull

Beverley, Grovehill Road

North Yorkshire

Filey, Padbury Avenue

Kirkbymoorside, Hardings Road

Scarborough, Queen Margaret’s Road

York, Turner Close

Wetherby, Hallfield Lane

The remaining CPADs will be fitted at the following locations in the coming weeks:

Bainbridge, Roman View

Keighley, Hardings Road

Menston, Buckle Lane

Ripon, Stonebridgegate

Selby, Doncaster Road

YAS HQ, Brindley Way, Wakefield