LIVES are being put at risk due to persistent failures to update the Island’s defibrillator network, a paramedic has warned – with emergency services unsure which devices are being maintained and in working order.
Currently, there is no central public access defibrillator registration system that emergency services can rely on to be accurate.
AEDs – automated external defibrillators – are often attached to businesses, in public spaces or near the beach in code-access cabinets.
Islanders can only access them in a life-saving situation once they are given a code by 999 operators if the dialler can find an AED in the area.
However, because there is no easy-to-use system and registration of the devices is voluntary, many AEDs become unaccounted for and can become unusable if they are not properly updated and maintained.
Nathan Judge, a paramedic and first aid trainer, said: ‘I’ve personally gone to an AED in Jersey and not been able to open it; so the lock’s been seized, which isn’t something that happens over night. That’s a long-term problem.”
In a cardiac-arrest situation, minutes can be the difference between life and death. According to Resuscitation Council UK, if an AED is used within three-to-five minutes of a heart attack, a person’s chances of survival can increase by as much as 70%.
While St Helier, the south-east of the Island, Les Quennevais and St Brelade’s Bay are well served by defibrillators, the rural northern parishes have far fewer and the ones that are there are “not in good locations,” Mr Judge said.
In particular, the area around La Moye and Corbiére has no AEDs within a travel time that could save someone’s life, he added.
Mr Judge has now set up a petition calling on the government to make defibrillators “visible, reliable, and available where people live and gather.”
The petition is calling for “mandatory AED registration,” a legal responsibility for their owners to maintain them, and mandatory defibrillators in new housing developments of five or more homes and in new commercial public buildings.
The Jersey Heart Support Group – a charity who support Islanders living with cardiac conditions and provide AEDs to local businesses at cost price – is in the process of setting up a centralised defibrillator registration system called defib.je, although this will not be a mandatory requirement.
Mark Harris, defibrillator network coordinator at JHSG, said that the website will be function “within a year” and will give emergency services a “dependable and reliable” resource.
JHSG volunteers are periodically checking on known defibrillators and it is expected that when the website is launched, issues with devices will be able to be reported issues with the view to them being fixed within a 24-hour period.
Mr Harris is positive about the Island’s safety in the future. With more than 150 public access defibrillators on the Island, he said that Jersey has one of the highest proportions of AEDs to people in the world – provided their locations were known and were all fully functioning.
A government spokesperson said that it “recognises the importance of defibrillators, which can play a vital role in saving lives”.
“The Government does not own or maintain the majority of defibrillators currently around the Island, which are purchased by the businesses or community groups,” they said. “It is the responsibility of the device’s owner to ensure that it is fit for purpose and remains accessible and functional.
“The government does not currently hold a centralised list of defibrillators but works with platforms such as defib.je and the Jersey Heart Support. The government has been working with these partners over the past year, and will continue to do so, to discuss how best to optimise their resources to support the public.”
