O'Sullivan J, Moore E, Dunn S, Tennant H, Smith D, Black S, Yates S, Lawrence A, McManus M, Day E, Miles M, Irving S, Hampshire S, Thomas L, Henry N, Bywater D, Bradfield M, Deakin CD, Holmes S, Leckey S, Linker N, Lloyd G, Mark J, MacInnes L, Walsh S, Woods G, and Perkins GD
Background: Early cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation is key to increasing survival following an out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest (OHCA). However, automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are used in a very small percentage of cases. Despite large numbers of AEDs in the community, the absence of a unified system for registering their locations across the UK's ambulance services may have resulted in missed opportunities to save lives. Therefore, representatives from the resuscitation community worked alongside ambulance services to develop a single repository for data on the location of AEDs in the UK., Methods: A national defibrillator network, "The Circuit", was developed by the British Heart Foundation in collaboration with the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, the UK ambulance services, the Resuscitation Council UK and St John Ambulance. The database allows individuals or organisations to record information about AED location, accessibility, and availability. The database synchronises with ambulance computer aided dispatch systems to provide UK ambulance services with real-time information on the nearest, available AED., Results: The Circuit was successfully rolled out to all 14 UK ambulance services. Since 2019, 82,108 AEDs have been registered. Of the AED data collected by The Circuit, 54% were not previously registered to any ambulance service, and are therefore new registrations., Conclusion: The Circuit provides ambulance services with a single point of access to AED locations in the UK. Since the launch of the system the number of defibrillators registered has doubled. Linking the Circuit data with patient outcome data will help understand whether improving the accessibility to AEDs is associated with increased survival., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: ‘Authors listed as affiliated to the BHF are employees of the BHF, a registered charity in England and Wales, Scotland and the Isle of Man. The BHF is the main funder of The Circuit and responsible for its administration. The author listed as affiliated to NHS England (NHSE) is a former employee of NHSE. NHSE is a co-funder of The Circuit. Authors listed as affiliated to the Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK) are employees of the Resuscitation Council UK a registered charity in England and Wales. The RCUK is a co-funder of The Circuit. Authors listed as affiliated to St John Ambulance (SJA) are employees of St John Ambulance a registered charity in England. SJA is a co-funder of The Circuit. Simon Dunn, Steve Irving, Sue Hampshire, Michael Bradfield, Charles Deakin, Simon Holmes, Stephanie Leckey, Nick Linker, Greg Lloyd, Julian Mark, Lisa McInnes, Simon Walsh, George Woods, Judy O’Sullivan and Gavin D Perkins are current or former members of The Circuit National Advisory Board. GDP holds research grants from the BHF, Resuscitation Council UK and the Laerdal Foundation, is a Trustee for the Resuscitation Council UK and Editor for Resuscitation and Resuscitation Plus journals.’., (© 2024 The Authors.)