Mr. Tim Collins:

There are a couple of simple things we can do. With regard to the availability of defibrillators, we need to give more support to community first responder groups. One very simple thing that could be done would be to allow such groups to claim VAT back on equipment they buy. That would decrease the cost of the equipment to the groups significantly. Approximately 1,800 automated external defibrillators, AEDs, are available to first responder groups around the country. We could probably do with more. We need to fund a cardiopulmonary resuscitation, CPR, programme for schools. In the past four years, we have trained approximately 300,000 children in approximately 70% of schools around the country. We have run out of funding for that. We would like to increase that figure to 100%. We agree with Mr. Johnson that this should be brought in as part of the curriculum.

The final practical thing that could be done would be to ensure that there is enough funding for the National Ambulance Service, NAS, to put in place a registry of defibrillators and an app. The most important thing is that, when a person attends a cardiac arrest and is on the phone to NAS, the service needs to be able to tell the person that there is a defibrillator 100 yd away and that the person should ask someone to get it. We need to know that the defibrillator is properly serviced, that the battery is charged and that the pads have been replaced. Simple things like that will save lives and bring us from a survival rate of 7% or 8% for cardiac arrests in the community to where we should be, which is at least 10% or 12%. That would save 100 or 150 lives.