Credit: Community Heartbeat Trust charity
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00In this video, we will cover community defibrillation, and also look specifically at the way ambulance
00:06services activate a defibrillator to an emergency.
00:10Not every emergency requires a defibrillator, and understanding how and why defibrillators
00:15are activated can help misunderstandings and concerns.
00:21So how are defibrillators activated in an emergency?
00:25If a patient is unconscious, not breathing or not breathing normally and has changed
00:29colour, this is a life-threatening emergency.
00:33Call 999 Ambulance.
00:35The ambulance operator will ask you if the patient is, A, breathing, and, B, conscious
00:41or not.
00:43If the answer to these are negative, then this is classed as a Category 1 call, life-threatening.
00:49At this point the details of the nearest active and available defibrillator will appear on
00:53the ambulance service controller's screen.
00:56If not, and the patient is awake and breathing, then this is a Category 2, or above, call,
01:03and not life-threatening.
01:05The details of the nearest defibrillator will not appear on the call handler's screen.
01:10They cannot tell you the location of the nearest defibrillator or how to get access.
01:15If a Category 2 incident, some ambulance service use a script called AMPDS.
01:22This has issues in that it was designed for cities and office blocks, and asks a caller
01:26to go and collect a defibrillator if they know of one nearby.
01:30It does not work very well in rural locations.
01:34Not all ambulance services use this, and they are moving universally to a system called
01:39NHS Pathways, a UK-derived system and much better at directing people.
01:45As any 999 call can be taken by any ambulance service, standardization is very important.
01:53All ambulance services can activate a defibrillator, but note, not a catastrophic bleed kit, and
01:59if a Category 1 incident, they can direct you to the defibrillator.
02:04If a Category 2 incident, they cannot, and so you will not be given any instructions,
02:09or any access code if required.
02:12Do not just go to a defibrillator location you are aware of and call 999 again.
02:18This generates a second call, which may go to a different ambulance service, who are
02:22unaware of the first call, and they cannot give you the defibrillator information.
02:28Please also note.
02:30If a 999 call handler is unable to find a defibrillator that you are aware of, this
02:35does not mean it is not registered with them.
02:38It may be the incident does not require a defibrillator and so it just does not show
02:43up on their screen.
02:45Or.
02:46The defibrillator may have already been activated to another call, and so has been made invisible
02:51to a call handler for any subsequent emergency call, until it has been checked and made active
02:57again.
02:58Or.
02:59The defibrillator you are aware of may be out of service for some reason, and so cannot
03:04be activated by the handler.
03:07Don't assume that defibrillator is not known to the ambulance service.
03:11Almost all are registered already, and any new publicly accessible sites are now almost
03:16always registered on installation.
03:20Reporting that a site is not registered takes time and money to investigate, and almost
03:24always it shows the defibrillator is registered, and is just not visible or available for a
03:29good reason.
03:31Please think, before acting.
03:34Understanding how defibrillators are activated is really important.
03:39These are life-saving devices, and should only be used when required.
03:44Understanding how the ambulance services work as well will help communities use these equipment
03:49correctly and appropriately, and avoid confusion in the future.
03:53Many thanks for listening.
04:01To contact the Community Heartbeat Trust Charity, please call 033-01243-067 or go via our website.