Defibrillators - Restart a Heart

defibrillator on street

If you are on an incident where someone has collected a public access defibrillator, please help us to get it live again but completing the following form.

The availability of defibrillators can help to save lives.

Restart a Heart logo
A defibrillator is a device used to give an electric shock to help restart a patient's heart when they are in cardiac arrest. When someone suffers a cardiac arrest the heart stops and blood is no longer being pumped around their body. The longer they go without emergency life-support, the harder it is to restart their heart. This is where you and your community, organisation or business could make a difference.

If there were more public access defibrillators, more people could get a life-saving shock as quickly as possible, ahead of an ambulance, which would assist in giving them the best possible chance of survival.

More than 3,600 people are resuscitated by ambulance staff every year in the South West because they suffer a pre-hospital cardiac arrest. For every minute that passes once in cardiac arrest, a person loses a further 10% chance of survival, and with this dramatic loss in chance of survival, there is a need of a defibrillator every 4-5 minutes walk. Without doubt this availability would improve cardiac arrest survival rates throughout the South West.

Automatic or semi-automatic defibrillators are easy and safe to use by anyone with little or no training. The device talks and displays what you need to do, with many devices also showing pictures.

Don't delay, purchase a defibrillator and register today as every second counts to Restart a Heart.

If you need any assistance, please get in touch with us at defibrillators@swast.nhs.uk or 0300 369 0494

Registering your Defibrillator with The Circuit

It is so important that all public access defibrillators are registered on The Circuit, which is the national network of defibrillators.  All ambulance services across the UK access this information in order to direct members of the public to the nearest available defibrillator in an emergency - so if your defibrillator is not registered, we won't know it exists.

You can register your defibrillator on The Circuit at the following link: The Circuit - the national defibrillator network - BHF

Labelling Your Defibrillator

The Circuit Sticker sheet

After a defibrillator is used in an emergency, it can sometimes take some days, or even weeks, for it to be returned to its cabinet.

  Labelling your defibrillator can help speed up its return to make sure that it is available for someone else who needs it.

The Circuit, the national defibrillator network, has produced some handy stickers to make it easier to label your defibrillator.  You can get a set of the stickers free of charge at the following link Your details - BHF

One sticker is placed on the cabinet to show that the defibrillator is registered with The Circuit.  The second sticker has room to write the address of the cabinet, a What3Words location for the cabinet and where the cabinet is lockable (which we don't recommend) a code for opening it.  This sticker is placed on the defibrillator itself (ideally not under a case) which should speed up your defibrillator getting back to where it belongs.

 

SWASFT Defibrillator Reports

If you are not already reporting via The Circuit, please continue to submit your online report here. Please do so until you are contacted by a SWASFT representative. 

Defibrillator Accreditation Scheme

Quick links

  1. Become a member
  2. Join the team
  3. Get involved
  4. Calling us