Is your child’s school defibrillator visible to 999?

Make sure your child’s school defibrillator is emergency ready

Over 12,500 schools have already registered a defibrillator on The Circuit, the national defibrillator network. But over 7,000 are still invisible to ambulance services.

Every missing defibrillator means the opportunity to help save a life could be missed. In a cardiac arrest, early CPR and rapid access to a defibrillator before the ambulance arrives can more than double the chances of survival.

When someone has a cardiac arrest and 999 is called, ambulance services can only advise where the nearest defibrillator is if they are registered on The Circuit.

What to do next

First, visit DefibFinder to check if your child's school defibrillator is already registered on The Circuit.

• If their school does appear, that's great news - its defibrillator is visible to ambulance service call handlers in an emergency.

• If their school does not appear, its defibrillator is invisible to 999. Sending a quick email to their school could prompt registration, giving its defibrillator the best chance of helping to save a life.

We have provided a draft email below.

Download email template

Despite the importance of registration, some school defibrillators are not yet registered. From speaking with headteachers, this is rarely a lack of will – it’s a lack of awareness. In exceptionally busy school environments, vital messages can easily be missed.

This is where you could make the difference.

Why registration matters

Your child's school defibrillator could make a lifesaving difference to a family in your community.

Here are 3 reasons why every registration is so important:

1. Every minute counts: survival drops by up to 10% for every minute without CPR and defibrillation.
2. Schools are in the heart of their communities: research in the West Midlands revealed that over a third of cardiac arrests happen within 300 metres of a school.
3. Ambulance services need to guide 999 callers to the nearest defibrillator to enable defibrillation to start in those vital minutes before the ambulance service arrives. If it's not registered, it's invisible to ambulance services.

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