ALMOST 400 public access defibrillators have been registered across Yorkshire in the last year.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service announced this week that 389 community public access defibrillators, or cPADs, were registered in the last 12 months, taking the total across the region to 883.

These defibrillators can be accessed around the clock by members of the public and used on patients who have suffered a cardiac arrest, and the ambulance service is working with community groups and charities to encourage even more to be rolled out.

Paul Stevens, head of community resilience for YAS, said: “We are thrilled that almost 400 additional cPADs have been registered with the ambulance service during the last financial year. This is a massive achievement because every second counts when a cardiac arrest occurs. With fast and effective CPR and defibrillation, the patient’s chances of survival increase significantly so the more defibrillators we have in our communities and the more people trained in CPR, the better.” A patient’s chance of survival falls by between seven and 10 per cent with every minute that defibrillation is delayed.

As well as the 883 cPADS across Yorkshire, there are also 2,447 defibrillators at locations which can be accessed by members of the public when the facilities are open.

To find out more about buying a defibrillator for your community, contact the YAS Community Resilience Department by emailing ben.rushworth@yas.nhs.uk