5. Welsh Conservatives Debate: Access to defibrillators

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:10 pm on 15 September 2021.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 4:10, 15 September 2021

Diolch yn fawr iawn. I'd like to thank Members for the thoughtful contributions that they have made today, and in particular, thank Darren Millar and Gareth for introducing this really important issue. Genuinely, there is consensus within this Chamber that this is a really important matter, and certainly there is cross-party support for this. I think that we are all united in the need to do more in this space.

As a Government, we share a commitment to improving people's chances of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. My predecessor, as some of you have noted, launched the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest plan for Wales in 2017, with the aim of tackling the very poor outcomes that we have in Wales associated with people having cardiac arrests in the community. Recently, as Gareth mentioned, Members will recall that I reaffirmed aspects of that plan by allocating additional funding, about which I will just say more in a bit.  

As we have already heard from so many Members today, the fact is that a patient's chance of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest decreases by an estimated 10 per cent with every passing minute. We've heard lots of examples of that, and we have our very own example here, Alun, who—. I was very shocked when I saw the figure—that actually only 3 per cent would have managed that kind of situation and come through it. So, we are all really so grateful to have you here, Alun, and it really does underline the importance of the need for one of these defibrillators to be accessible.

So, survival rates are low, but there is a potential for many more lives to be saved, as has been demonstrated by the number of countries that have been taking active steps to improve each stage of what they call this chain of survival. This is the reason why we have got this plan, and that concerted action is being taken.

So, I fully support calls for more defibrillators, but I think that it's important for people to understand that making progress in this area is complex, and requires a number of things to be brought together—many of which have been touched upon by Members in this Chamber today.