A social club committee is opposing London Ambulance Service’s decision not to support and accredit defibrillators in locked cabinets.
The New Eltham Social Club installed its own defibrillator outside the venue on April 17 after discussing the death of a landlord in a bar in Glasgow.
The landlord collapsed after throwing someone out of the Viceroy premises and died twelve days later in hospital.
Following this, a successful campaign was launched, and a defibrillator was placed between the bar and Rangers' Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow.
New Eltham Social Club committee member Gordon Hill said he didn’t see a defibrillator anywhere near and wanted to fundraise for one in case of similar circumstances.
The committee decided to purchase a locked case to protect against vandalism and theft but still wanted the defibrillator to be external to make sure it was visible and accessible to the community.
However, London Ambulance Service does not currently provide or store the access codes to 999 callers for locked cabinets.
It isn’t until “later this year” that London’s Ambulance Service will be joining a national database of public defibrillators which will hold codes for locked defibrillator cabinets that 999 call handlers could access if they have been registered by the owners.
Gordon, 41, said: “I come back here to Eltham, and I am starting to look around and I don’t see a defibrillator anywhere.
“We started looking into it and we believe the reason you don’t see so many is because London Ambulance Service doesn’t support locked defibrillator cases.
“Businesses do not want to pay to have a defibrillator installed if the case is unlocked, anyone could steal it.
“We get that it does take time to open, maybe a few seconds to get the code, but surely that is better than having no defibrillator or having one that is vandalised or stolen,”
A spokesperson for London Ambulance Service said: “When someone suffers a cardiac arrest, every second saved in accessing and using a defibrillator improves their chances of survival, yet locked cabinets can create potential delays.
“Later this year we will join up to a national database of public defibrillators which will hold codes for locked defibrillator cabinets that 999 call handlers could access if they have been registered by the owners.
“However, we will continue to recommend people purchase unlocked defibrillators where possible, as recommended by the Resuscitation Council, to avoid any life-threatening delay.”
President of the social club, Paul Carrol, 51, told the News Shopper: “We have a train station just up the road from us, people might come off the train, walk past and collapse.
“But during the in the early hours of the morning, if someone rang 999 outside the New Eltham Social Club and asked what the code for the defibrillator is, London Ambulance Service would not have a code.
“Other ambulance services have access to codes.”
Staff at the club are being made aware of the pin so that it is accessible during opening hours.
The social club purchased its defibrillator from London Hearts charity, with the money predominantly raised by the members during charity quizzes.
The defibrillator cost around £1500 in total, with almost £1000 contributed by the social club members via the fundraising.
The committee plans to public host training days on how to use the defibrillator.
Committee member, Sharon McCabe, 54 said: “When we arranged the teaching sessions it would be wonderful to invite members of the community here to increase awareness and reduce the fear of using it.
“I’m from a nursing background and the defibrillator tells you exactly what to do on it.
“They have been made to be so user friendly.”
A defibrillator is a life-saving device that gives a high energy electric shock to the heart of someone who is in cardiac arrest.
It can determine whether a shock is needed to correct the heart to its regular rhythm, meaning that it will not deliver a shock unless it is needed.
Figures published by London Ambulance Service show that when a Public Access Defibrillator was used by a bystander, the survival rate was more than five times higher.
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