Question reference: S5W-26538
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 26 November 2019
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 December 2019
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether there is a consistent approach across local authorities to the installation and use of defibrillators in sports centres and buildings that they fully or partially own or manage.
Answer
The provision and location of life saving equipment at individual organisations in their local community is for local authorities or leisure trusts to determine.
Scotland’s Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) Strategy recognises the importance of Public Access Defibrillators (PADs).
One of the main commitments in the Strategy is to put in place effective arrangements to ensure that PADs are mapped, maintained and made accessible to the public. The British Heart Foundation’s National Defibrillator Network Project, “The Circuit”, is a UK-wide registry of defibrillators that is now live in Scotland. The Circuit integrates with the existing SAS PADs and allows 999 call handlers to direct an OHCA bystander to a PAD when it is nearby.