Synergy News & Blog: News
Can ambulance services see your school’s defibrillator?
Did you know that registering your school’s defibrillator on The Circuit could make a lifesaving difference?
If your school’s defibrillator isn’t on the map, ambulance service call handlers can’t locate it when 999 is called. Unfortunately, many defibrillators are not used when urgently needed because they cannot be identified in the area.
Visit DefibFinder to find out if yours is registered. Register your defibrillator on The Circuit - it is free and quick to do.
Why register?
- The Circuit is the national defibrillator network. The Circuit enables the ambulance services to direct 999 callers to the nearest registered defibrillator in response to a cardiac arrest, to enable defibrillation to start before the ambulance arrives. There will be no delay in waiting for a first aider or senior member of staff to arrive and confirm where it is. Every second counts.
- Each year, over 30,000 people in the UK have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The survival rate is less than 1 in 10.
- Every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces the chance of survival by up to 10%.
- Your defibrillator can be registered for the hours and times it is available e.g. school opening hours – it could still make a difference for someone and their loved ones.
- Currently, 37% of the most deprived areas in England have zero registered defibrillators. If every school registered their defibrillators this would fall by 11%.
- Defibrillator Guardians will receive reminders to check that the defibrillator is emergency ready.
- Research in the West Midlands revealed that approximately a third of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur within 300m of a school.
© British Heart Foundation, 2025. Reproduced with kind permission of the British Heart Foundation.
