What is the ‘Let Us See Your AED’ campaign?
West Midlands Ambulance Service has teamed up The British Heart Foundation to try and ensure all defibrillators throughout the region are registered on The Circuit.
Defibrillators (AEDs) are live-saving pieces of equipment that are used to shock a patient’s heart when they are in cardiac arrest to try and restart it. However, research shows that there are more than 2,700 across the West Midlands are not registered on The Circuit.
The Circuit, run by the British Heart Foundation, is the national defibrillator database which which is used by our call assessors to help direct people who dial 999 to their nearest AED within 500m of where a cardiac arrest is occurring. Quite simply, is AEDs are not registered on The Circuit, we do not have the information such as location and access codes needed to instruct a bystander to the potentially life-saving device.
How do our Call Assessors use The Circuit?
Did You Know?
- There are currently more than 2778 AEDs in the West Midlands, not registered on The Circuit.
- AEDs increase the chance of survival by over 23%.
- In the UK, CPR is carried out by emergency services on approximately 34,000 people, every year.
- There are currently 8,473 AEDs in the West Midlands registered on ‘The Circuit’
- Around 1 in 3 cardiac arrests occur within 300 metres of a school.
Patient Stories
During our week-long campaign WMAS have been able to speak with a cardiac arrest survivor, and the woman who saved his life. As well as sitting down with the OurJay Foundation Chair, who sadly lost her son to a cardiac arrest when he was only 18-years-old.