New data from the British Heart Foundation shows almost half of school defibrillators in the West Midlands are not registered on the national defibrillator database, The Circuit.
It means ambulance service staff may not be able to direct people to the nearest defibrillator to assist a patient in cardiac arrest, where every second counts.
Statistics from NHS England shows that there are around 4,100 out of hospital cardiac arrests per year in the region, but the survival rate is just over 7%.
Last month, West Midlands Ambulance Service launched free CPR training, to teach people to be lifesavers by learning cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, with hundreds of people coming forward in the first few days.
Community Response Manager, Tim Cronin, said: “While CPR is a vital part of the chain of survival, getting a defibrillator to the patient is the definitive care needed.
“A few years ago, the Government rolled out a scheme to ensure there is at least one defibrillator in every state school. But the statistics from BHF show that only 56.2% (1,251) are registered on The Circuit.
“The reason this is worrying is that it is The Circuit that we (WMAS) use to identify where the nearest defib is to a patient in cardiac arrest. The figures show there could be almost 1,000 other defibs stored in schools that are not registered.
“We all either have kids ourselves, are grandparents to school age children, we have siblings who are at school or know someone who does have kids at school.
“I would urge everyone to check if the defib at their local school is on The BHF Defib Finder. If it’s not, please contact your local school and ask them to register it as soon as possible.
“It is particularly important because research by the University of Warwick found that 69.3% of OHCA in the West Midlands happen within 500m of a school!
“It’s simple, the more people that know CPR and the more defibs on The Circuit, the more lives we can save.”
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