Published on 2nd September 2019
There’s no pun intended here when we say we have fantastic news to share which is close to our own hearts, as the British Heart Foundation has recently announced their release of The Circuit.
The Circuit was launched earlier this year in June and is a national network where everyone can register their defibrillator to increase awareness of where the nearest defibs are located when needed.
When you offer life-saving equipment like ours, it’s always truly upsetting to hear that a lost life could have been saved if a defib had been available, so we can’t shout loudly enough about this.
We would love you to tell everyone you know about this as you just don’t know when this tiny snippet of information could save a life. We’ll also share with you how you can get involved in this too.
In a nutshell, the main purpose of The Circuit is to create a national network of defibrillators with the intention of promoting that there are defibs around us in case of an emergency.
The ultimate aim is to save more lives from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) by linking vital ambulance services with the public. The first few minutes of a cardiac arrest are absolutely critical and defibrillation administered with CPR can double a person’s chance of surviving an OHCA.
We recently shared this article on how a scheme in Japan – where they had pairs of people on bikes and on foot with defibs at 291 marathons – saved 28 out of 30 sudden cardiac arrests. Those numbers are phenomenal and testimony to how crucial it is to be able to access defibs quickly.
Increased access to any of The Circuit’s registered defibrillators could help bystanders and ambulance services provide life-saving help during those vital first few minutes.
It is estimated that there are tens of thousands of defibrillators across the UK, It is estimated that there are tens of thousands of defibrillators across the UK, but only a minority are known to the ambulance services. By not having a defibrillator registered with the ambulance service this is breaking that essential chain of survival.
This network is needed for two main reasons:
In case of an emergency such as OHCA, a defibrillator is much more likely to be used if it is registered with the Ambulance Service.
Only 2% of OHCAs receive bystander defibrillation. If you are not medically trained, for instance, you can feel you’re unable to help if medical assistance reaches the patient, but if you know how to locate a defib in this emergency, you could play a crucial part in those first few minutes.
Raising the awareness that absolutely anyone could be a cardiac arrest bystander at some point and to take a few moments to familiarise yourself with The Circuit, could seriously increase that 2% figure.
Just one life saved is powerful. Ask that person’s family.
With the heightened awareness across the UK of how any bystander can step in to help by knowing where the nearest publicly accessible defibrillator is located, can make a significant difference to those scarily low survival rates.
By enabling ambulance services to direct people to their nearest defibrillator through The Circuit, more lives could be saved through bystander defibrillation.
At first, guardians located within the West Midlands and Scotland can register their defibrillator with the network via their local ambulance service. The Circuit will then be rolled out nationally throughout the rest of the year.
As part of their mission, The BHF have teamed up with UK ambulance services, the NHS, Microsoft and Microsoft solutions provider, New Signature, on this groundbreaking project to save thousands of more lives from Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest.
If you have a defibrillator which you’d like to register now, some ambulance services are currently able to accept direct registrations, so please visit the AACE website. Here you’ll find a map showing which ambulance services offer this and the links to contact your local service.
Absolutely. You don’t ever know when a Sudden Cardiac Arrest will happen but this information could save a life. You don’t need to be medically trained to access the network – your role could simply be to inform others on where to source a defibrillator during an emergency.
We want to make people aware that we can all help regardless of medical ability.
Absolutely everyone could help to save lives with this knowledge – especially when you look at the statistics we mentioned of only 2% bystander survival rates – let’s change that.
The main goal here is to ask everyone to share the news of the National Defibrillator Network being launched. The more people who know about The Circuit, the better.
As providers of defibrillators, Martek Lifecare knows only too well how critical those first few minutes are, and we’ve also been promoting awareness of Sudden Athlete Death for a while now too.
If you are attending any sporting events, for instance, there is a heightened risk of sudden cardiac arrest, so taking just a couple of minutes to familiarise yourself with where first aiders and defibs are located will save crucial minutes.
Even if you are a spectator, get into the habit of doing this upon arrival.
It would be worth doing this if you’re attending any large gathering of people too such as a concert or conference.
Right now, what we’d love you to do is simply share the news of The Circuit being launched. Create the awareness that we can all play our part simply by promoting that it exists.
We’ve made this super easy for you, simply copy and paste this snippet into your social media and ask for it to be shared – we all know how connected we are now, so we’re urging as many people to do this as possible. We’ve even given you an infographic to share too.
“The British Heart Foundation has launched The Circuit – a national defibrillator network where all defibs can be registered for sourcing during emergencies. Only 2% of Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrests are survived as bystanders don’t realise they can help.
Each passing minute after cardiac arrest reduces the chance of survival by 10%. The Circuit will link bystanders to ambulance services to enable them to help during those critical first minutes. Letting the country know we have a network of defibs we could all source in an emergency could smash that awful 2% figure.
You ONLY need to share this post on your own social media platforms, then go to www.martek-lifecare.com to spend around 1 minute of your own life familiarising yourself with this service – you’d be happy if someone had done that if ever you needed it :)”
Martek Lifecare is committed to saving as many lives as possible through providing life-saving equipment as well as spreading the word about services such as The Circuit. You can read BHF’s article on this here and how to register your own defibrillator too.
If you’d like more information on leasing or buying Martek Lifecare’s defibrillators or equipment, please get in touch and our team will happily help.