Agenda item

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services providing a progress update regarding access to defibrillators in the City of London.

Members were informed that the safety team continued to work with all departments and that there were currently 43 defibrillators across all City Corporation sites. With regards to public access defibrillators, there was a need to ensure the public were aware where they were, that they were accessible and visible. Funding was being explored to fund additional defibrillators.   

In response to a query, it was noted that all defibrillators in the country were listed on two public databases: London Ambulance Service (LAS) and British Heart Foundation. Of the 91 defibrillators in the City, approximately 75% are visible and the City Corporation continues to actively encourage other to make theirs visible as visibility is known to improve survival rates.

With regards to confusion concerning paragraph 7 concerning accreditation with the LAS requiring further internal discussion, Members were advised that formal training for accreditation was required and further discussion were needed with the Health and Safety team.

A Member questioned how “fool proof” defibrillators were and how many incidents there had been of an unexpected person needing to use one in the event of an emergency. Members were advised that it was important for defibrillators to be easily accessible and easy to use which was covered in basic first aid training. Officers confirmed the approximate percentages of the use of defibrillators by healthcare/trained staff versus untrained/public responders was as follows: healthcare staff = 10%, trained responders = 50%, trained public = 30%, untrained public = 10%.

A Member noted that outcomes were good within the Square Mile but questioned accessibility to defibrillators in less developed parts of the City. An Officer confirmed that all ambulance and police responders in the City carried defibrillators and there were ongoing discussions for construction sites to hold defibrillators in their offices and be made available to the public when needed. The Chairman noted a black taxi driver project whereby drivers carried defibrillators which could be accessed in cases of an incident and inform the police.

In response to queries concerning how to promote defibrillators in businesses, Members were advised that best practice was visibility and signage promoting defibrillators. This was also covered in the contractor scheme within the City.

The Chairman recommended that businesses be encouraged to work with the defibrillator accreditation schemes and for an article to go in the Healthy Business magazine.

RESOLVED – That Members support that the City of London Corporation:-

·         continues its focus on the detection and prevention of heart disease (including the promotion of smoking cessation, physical activity, healthy eating and better air quality);

·         encourages the registration of all defibrillators on the LAS accreditation scheme / The Circuit https://www.thecircuit.uk in order to maximise access for the public and first responders;

·         reconsiders whether to increase the number of public access defibrillators at members’ discretion, if suitable funding were identified, noting that the current density of defibrillators is already high within the City.