The Scottish Ambulance Service has appealed for organisations or businesses to register potentially life-saving public access defibrillators on its dedicated website, gaining support from Lothians MSP Miles Briggs.
Mr Briggs said: “Public access defibrillators can make the difference between life and death for those who suffer from cardiac arrest before an ambulance arrives.
“There is currently no legal obligation to register defibrillators which is why the Scottish Ambulance Service is asking people to help them know where these are so that when someone calls 999 the ambulance service will know where the nearest defibrillator is if it is required.”
He added: “I join the Scottish Ambulance Service in encouraging leisure centres, schools, libraries, transport services, community centres and other public places with defibrillators in Lothian to register their devices on the Scottish Ambulance Service’s website.
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Murray McEwan, the ambulance service’s national resilience manager, said: “We are grateful to have Miles Briggs behind our campaign.
“When someone experiences a cardiac arrest they are unconscious and not breathing, or not breathing normally, and their life is in immediate danger, which is why these defibrillators are so important.
“If we know where defibrillators are in every community our call handlers may then be able to direct bystanders to a defibrillator in the event of somebody experiencing a cardiac arrest and talk them through action to take.”
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