There are currently 265 defibrillators in the Island but only 32 of them are available to the public at all times. They are known as community public access defibrillators (CPADs).
Janet Davison, clinical training and development manager at the Ambulance Service, said it had launched a scheme in May last year to encourage those who owned a defibrillator to store them in an area that was accessible to the public even outside of office hours.
Mrs Davison said uptake has been ‘slow’ and that placing defibrillators, which can administer electric shocks to help restart a casualty’s heart, in publicly accessible areas could help save lives.
‘In the UK defibrillators are everywhere. We have all these defibrillators here that are locked away in buildings and offices after 5 pm but if they are outside they are available to all,’ she said.
