6. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on funding for defibrillators? OAQ52422

The Welsh Government is working in partnership with the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, health boards and charities to proactively promote and install public-access defibrillators in buildings across Wales.

There have been a number of developments in my constituency recently whereby defibrillators have been introduced, which have been welcomed in communities across the isle, of course, because they provide safeguards in cases of cardiac ill health, and there are efforts, of course, to introduce further such machines. The latest is an application for one to be provided as part of the introduction of the new park run in Anglesey for young people, in the hope of ensuring the best safety facilities possible for runners. It’s very often charities that contribute towards funding these defibrillators, but can you as a Government seek new ways of providing financial assistance as this is something that is driven by communities and deserves Government support? 

Thank you for the question. Funnily enough, I was recently in a place within my own constituency where somebody who had been motivated by their own experience of the health service had gone out and raised money to provide defibrillators—one in the new Eastern High school recently opened in Trowbridge, and the other, recently, in Llanrumney's Phoenix Boxing Club. And so, there are a range of people who are deeply committed to doing this, and equally, within the charitable sector, there's a wide range of charities that are committed to making more defibrillators available and making sure that they're publicly available, and it's the partnership with WAST that helps to make sure those public-access defibrillators are available and for use.

So, the challenge always is about how many, and where and when, and also where the role of Government is in terms of making those available. The UK Government recently announced a fund of money. We haven't seen a consequential for that, but we need to think again about how we make sure that we do continue to see more defibrillators used and, indeed, how that links to the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest plan to make sure that this relatively easy-to-use life-saving equipment is not just available but is actually used to help save people's lives.

Cabinet Secretary, can I also welcome your answer and the work that's been done by so many communities who have actually taken up this issue and established defibrillators in those communities, who have raised the funds, who have supported the training, and so on, for them to operate? In my constituency, in just one area in Tonyrefail, we have 20 defibrillators that have now been set up by communities. They're on lamp posts, they're in shops, there's one outside a curry house, and I'm assured that's because it needed to have the electricity connection there. But it shows what communities can do, and it shows the strength of some of our communities.

I suppose the issue that would be a little bit of a concern is, of course, that that's fine where you've got the community taking that on board, but what we wouldn't want to see is gaps in and around the country where some have defibrillators and some shouldn't. Maybe what we should be doing is actually trying to get a broader picture of what the state is with regard to the spread of defibrillators and look at ways in which we can encourage the spread of further defibrillators in those areas that haven't yet managed to achieve that.

Yes, and I recognise the point that he makes about Tonyrefail with a group of community fundraisers, and the work in particular of the two Welsh-based charities, being Cariad and Welsh Hearts, but also the British Heart Foundation too are obviously interested in seeing more publicly accessible defibrillators made available.

And that's why the partnership with WAST matters, to understand where they are, so they're actually available when someone needs one, but also understand if there are parts of Wales where there is a gap in provision and, equally, about how public buildings, so that we can invest from the public purse in making sure that there are defibrillators available too.

I should make a point here because, in recent discussions around defibrillators, I've been pretty appalled at the number of defibrillators that are vandalised and taken away. And there is something about supporting the work of people who not just raise funds to have them, and then to see them maintained as well, as indeed I think Cariad and Welsh Hearts do, but actually to make clear that it really is wholly unacceptable for life-saving equipment to be removed and vandalised, as sadly happens far too often.