- 25/11/2021
- Posted by: Ken Skates MS
- Category: News
Member of the Senedd for Clwyd South, Ken Skates, is urging local sports clubs and organisations to apply for a free defibrillator through the Welsh Labour Government’s Save a life Cymru scheme before the upcoming deadline for applications on November 30.
In September, Welsh Labour’s Health Minister Eluned Morgan announced an additional £500,000 to improve community access to defibrillators and boost out of hospital cardiac arrest survival rates.
The money is going towards enabling places like community buildings and sports grounds to access a defibrillator.
A patient’s chance of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest decreases by an estimated 10% with every passing minute. By increasing the availability of them in community settings it is hoped to improve the survival rates of those suffering a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital.
Ken Skates MS said: “Every second counts when someone goes into cardiac arrest. By improving community access to defibrillators, it will hopefully improve the survival rates of those suffering cardiac arrest outside of a hospital.
“I fully supported the calls for more defibrillators, so I was really pleased when the Welsh Labour Government announced additional funding of £500,000 to improve community access to them.”
Organisations can apply for a community public access defibrillator here: https://gov.wales/apply-for-a-community-public-access-defibrillator
In July, the Welsh Government approved further funding of £2.5m over the next three years for Save a Life Cymru. This will enable further awareness-raising, fund new educational and training resources and improve public access to defibrillators.
