Life-saving defibrillators to be sited across the borough

Andrea Fallon, Director of Public Health with a defibrillator at Number 1 Riverside in Rochdale

A dozen new community access defibrillators are to be sited at venues across the borough.

The new defibrillators will be installed inside secure, external cabinets so ambulance service operators can direct callers to them if someone suffers a cardiac arrest. The caller can be given the code to unlock the cabinet, and use the defibrillator on the person, before an ambulance or medical help arrives; increasing their chances of survival by up to 70 per cent.

Andrea Fallon, director of public health for Rochdale Borough Council, said: “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to provide our communities with defibrillators and vital CPR training as part of our CardiacSmart project. This is a really important and worthwhile investment because if our residents know what to do and can act quickly in the event of a cardiac arrest, they could greatly increase a victim’s chances of surviving and make our borough a safer place to live.”

Rochdale Borough Council will work with the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) over the coming months to identify the best, highly-populated and easily accessible sites in the borough to install the 12 new defibrillators. The host venues will also receive CPR and defibrillator training.

North West Ambulance Service Community Resuscitation Manager, Sara Harris, said: “When someone suffers a cardiac arrest the chance of survival decreases by up to 14 per cent for every minute that passes without defibrillation. Effective CPR and using a defibrillator ensures the patient has the best chance of survival.

"A cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, young or old and at any time, so it is vitally important that these life-saving machines are readily available, in as many places as possible, all across our communities. The work being done in Rochdale to make defibrillators accessible and raise awareness of their usage is exemplary and could save many lives.”