5. Welsh Conservatives Debate: Access to defibrillators

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:07 pm on 15 September 2021.

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Photo of Jack Sargeant Jack Sargeant Labour 4:07, 15 September 2021

The leader of the opposition spoke about consensus at the start of this debate and I agree with him: we do need to find consensus. You won't hear me say this often, but I thank the Welsh Conservatives for bringing this debate forward today—[Laughter.] 

But, Deputy Llywydd, I recently met with Mark King from the Oliver King Foundation, who are campaigning for a life-saving defibrillator in every single school across the United Kingdom. The foundation was set up in January of 2012, following the tragic death of Mark's son, 12-year-old Oliver King. Oliver died from sudden arrhythmic death syndrome—a hidden heart condition that kills 12 young people every week. Now, like many others across the Chamber, my meeting with Mark and the foundation got me thinking about the schools in my own community, so my office contacted the schools in Alun and Deeside, and they found that 23 schools did have a defibrillator, but 10 did not. Many of those 10 got back in touch with my office to ask how can they go about getting one and can they get one funded and they wanted advice on how to do that. So, I will be putting them in touch with the Oliver King Foundation, but I would also ask that the Welsh Government and local government colleagues across Wales consider mapping this out properly and help schools to get the life-saving equipment they so much need.

Furthermore, Deputy Llywydd, friends of mine recently made me aware of an elderly family member who fell ill in the early hours of the morning. Upon phoning 999, they were instructed to go to the nearest available defibrillator at the local supermarket, but unfortunately, the supermarket was shut and the defibrillator was locked inside. My friend was unable to access that. As we've heard from Members across all benches here today, it is vital that defibrillators are in a location that means that they're accessible 24 hours a day. Now, I have written to Morrisons in Connah's Quay in my own constituency asking them to facilitate this sensible move, and I would like other stores across my constituency and across Wales and the UK to do the same. So, I would urge the Minister and the Welsh Government to pursue this issue across Wales.

To sum up, Deputy Presiding Officer, because I am very grateful to you for letting me speak in this debate today, we all understand the difference between a defibrillator and what that can make in terms of life-saving or not, but training in using them and basic CPR training is also key to saving lives. And as we've heard this afternoon, nobody knows that better than my good friend Alun Davies, so I would like to pay tribute to those people who helped my good friend Alun Davies in his time of need, because without them, he wouldn't be here with me, disagreeing with the Welsh Conservatives, as we so much like to do. But not today: we do agree, and thank you so much for the debate. Diolch yn fawr.