The UK’s biggest building society is rolling out life-saving defibrillators and bleed control kits in all 605 branches, including its offices in Scotland.
This is thought to be the largest combined rollout of its kind ever undertaken in the UK.
Nationwide, which earlier this year overtook Lloyds Banking Group to become the country’s biggest branch network, is carrying out the installation – in partnership with Visa – from now until the end of 2026, with St John Ambulance delivering free first aid training for staff and local communities.
The move comes against a stark backdrop: fewer than one in ten people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the UK, yet survival rates leap by up to 70 per cent if a defibrillator is used within three to five minutes. Knife or sharp instrument offences meanwhile totalled around 53,000 in 2024/25.
A Nationwide poll of over 2,000 people lays bare the scale of public unpreparedness — just 27 per cent know where their nearest defibrillator is, and only nine per cent can locate a bleed kit. More than four in ten said they would not intervene in an emergency for fear of making things worse.
Nationwide’s 4,000 branch colleagues will be trained first, before community sessions open to the public — giving local people hands-on skills in CPR, defibrillator use and severe bleed treatment.
Amanda Beech, Nationwide’s Director of Retail Services, said: “Nationwide’s unique reach as the UK’s largest branch network gives us the ability to put life-saving equipment where it matters most – in places people already know and trust in their communities. By transforming our branches into visible, emergency hubs, we’re making it easier to access help when every second counts.
“Crucially we’re also offering training to all our branch colleagues, before extending that training into the communities we serve. We want more people to feel prepared, confident and ready to act when it matters most.”
St John Ambulance Chief Medical Officer, Professor Andrew Hartle, said: “We’re so pleased to work with Nationwide and Visa on this project, which so perfectly meets St John Ambulance’s mission to put the power of first aid into everyone’s hands.
With hundreds more public access defibrillators and bleed control kits across the UK, and thousands more people confident to use them, I am confident many more lives will be saved in our communities.”
