An Ipswich man has spoken of his terror after he was unable to access a defibrillator feet away from where his wife collapsed.
David Cooper, from the Bixley area of Ipswich, was outside Fresh Fry Fish and Chips shop in Penshurst Road with his wife, 81, on Saturday evening when she collapsed.
Mr Cooper dialled 999, and was put through to an operator, who asked if there was a defibrillator nearby.
There happened to be one just next door, outside the neighbouring Indian restaurant.
However, to Mr Cooper’s frustration, the device did not appear on the operator’s system. A code was needed to use the device, which the operator did not have.
Meanwhile, he was told that an ambulance would not be with them for at least an hour.
“My wife was in such a bad way, we really thought she was going to die,” he said. The operator tried to direct Mr Cooper to another defibrillator at the University of Suffolk.
Fortunately, Mr Cooper’s daughter, a nurse, was with them. She ran home to alert her husband, who drove over to collect them, and then take Mrs Cooper to hospital. She has since been discharged, and is recovering at home.
The whole ordeal was incredibly distressing for Mr Cooper.
He has since learned that the code he needed was written on the defibrillator. However, in the panic of the moment, he did not see it.
Jayne Biggs is the founder of Heart 2 Heart, a charity which is responsible for distributing more than 250 defibrillators around Norfolk and Suffolk.
She explained that each defibrillator must be registered in order for it to appear on 999 the operator’ system (the 'circuit'). Each time the defibrillator is removed from its cabinet, it must be re-registered as available for use.
“It could be that someone has dialled 999 perhaps months ago, and nobody has reactivated it,” she said. “That defib will be rescue ready, but no one will be sent to it.”
The defibrillator in Penshurst Road is registered to Rushmere St Andrew Parish Council.
A spokesperson for the council visited the defibrillator on Tuesday. They reported that it was in working order and that all the equipment was fully charged, and suggested that perhaps the defibrillator may have been unavailable due to a technological error.
A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service said: "We were very sorry to hear about Mr Cooper's experience, it must have been extremely stressful for him at what was already a very distressing time.
"Our call handlers rely on the information in The Circuit when directing callers to Public Access Defibrillators (PADs), so this really underlines how important it is, not only to have a defibrillator, but to ensure that it is registered with The Circuit."
The Circuit is the national defibrillator network, which provides the NHS ambulance services with vital information about defibrillators across the UK so that in the crucial moments after a cardiac arrest, they can be accessed quickly.
The spokesperson continued: "The East of England Ambulance Service Trust has been working with The Circuit to maximise the number of maintained PADs on our Computer Aided Despatch system.
"Since September 2022 we have added a further 1,534 PADs to the database."
To find defibrillators near you, visit: www.defibfinder.uk
Please note: this website is to be used only for locating defibrillators. If you require urgent medical assistance, dial 999
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