We have recently been doing some work on the accessibility of ‘publicly accessible defibrillators’ in our local area.

Defibrillators Statistics show that your chances of surviving many types of heart attack increase from 0% to 40% with early CPR and early defibrillation. It is important to stress that good first aid training is also important – normally when a emergency defibrillator is put in place then training should be given to key people nearby.

In a formal question to Bury Council earlier this year, my Lib Dem college Cllr Tim Pickstone discorvered that the council did not keep records of publicly accessible defibrillators in Bury. Further investigations have revealed that there are NONE registered with the ambulance service in the Prestwich area (it may be that some forward thinking businesses or organisation have got them – just not registered with the Ambulance service – there are ones at Prestwich Hospital, but this isn’t normally a public site, and when its open there is one at the Walk-in Centre.

Until this year Bury Council was the ONLY council in Great Manchester which did not have defibrillators in its sport centres, but they are now going ahead with defibs in the Town Hall and the sports centres in Radcliffe, Bury and Ramsbottom – but what about Prestwich and Whitefield?

We have written to the council asking them to include the Longfield in a scheme and has also written to Prestwich Tesco and Heaton Park Sainsbury’s to see what they might do. As we understand it ASDA have defibs in all their stores nationally.

Sports facilities are a key location for debibs. If you’re a member of Total Fitness Whitefield or Virgin Active Middleton there are debibs there, but if you’re a member at Village Bury then they just don’t have them apparently – perhaps worth contacted them as a member!

It seems ridiculous – and life threatening – that the Prestwich area is so poorly served for publicly accessible defibrillators. If you are involved in a community organisation or sports group in Prestwich that would be interested in working with use to raise money or grants for a defibrillator please get in touch.

Steve

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