Lack of defibrillators could put 16m at risk of death by cardiac arrest in England and Wales

More than half of councils’ residents were not within the recommended three- to five-minutes reach of a defibrillator. Photograph: Photographer, Basak Gurbuz Derman/Getty Images View image in fullscreen More than half of councils’ residents were not within the recommended three- to five-minutes reach of a defibrillator. Photograph: Photographer, Basak Gurbuz Derman/Getty Images Lack of defibrillators could put 16m at risk of death by cardiac arrest in England and Wales Exclusive: Research shows millions live more than a 1km round trip from 24/7 accessible device More than 16 million people in England and Wales risk dying from a cardiac arrest because they live farther than a 1km round trip from the nearest 24/7 defibrillator, according to exclusive research. Analysis of publicly available defibrillators by the Heart Restart campaign found that in England and Wales alone, 35 million people – more than half the population – do not live within the recommended three- to five-minute brisk walk of a defibrillator. Of these, about half live more than a 1km round trip from a 24/7 accessible defibrillator. There are more than 40,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests each year in the UK, but fewer than one in 10 people survive. However, early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation can more than double the chance of survival. Patients in cardiac arrest who do not receive emergency treatment within 10 minutes – a 1km round trip to retrieve a defibrillator – are highly likely to die. But Heart Restart’s researchers calculated that with the exception of the City of London, all local authorities have at least some of their residents living at least 10 minutes’ round trip from their nearest 24/7 defibrillator. Analysis of how far people lived from an accessible defibrillator showed that in 264 out of the 318 local authority areas studied, more than half of councils’ residents were not within the recommended three- to five-minutes reach of a defibrillator. The research also uncovered significant inequalities in access. In Harlow, more than 70% of people are at least 10 minutes away from their nearest publicly available, 24/7 accessible defibrillator, while in Birmingham, nearly half a million people live more than 500 metres from the nearest 24/7 defibrillator. In contrast, every resident in the City of London and 77% of those in Hartlepool are within the recommended three to five minutes of a 24/7 defibrillator. The British Heart Foundation has announced a community defibrillator campaign, inviting local areas throughout the UK to apply for 400 24/7 community defibrillators. The areas BHF says have the biggest “defibrillator deserts” – the longest distances to a defibrillator, despite having higher population density and deprivation levels – include Barking and Dagenham, Liverpool, Southampton and Nottingham, Wrexham and Newport, as well as parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland. Responding to the findings, Sam Kennard, the community defibrillator