Why should I get a defibrillator?
If someone has a cardiac arrest, a defibrillator can help restart their heart while you’re waiting for the emergency services to arrive.
Getting a defibrillator for your organisation, community or school is vital because:
- there are more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK each year and currently less than 1 in 10 survive
- without immediate intervention with a defibrillator, most cardiac arrests are fatal
- every minute without CPR and a defibrillator, reduces survival chances by up to 10%.
Find out how a defibrillator can save a life, on our BHF Defibrillators shop website.
What are the costs of owning a defibrillator
As well as the price of a defibrillator, you also need to think about installation and running costs.
View sample defibrillator costs on our BHF Defibrillators shop website.
Choosing a defibrillator
Which defibrillator to get depends on where you’re going to keep it and who will be using it.
Find out everything you need to know about choosing a defibrillator on our BHF Defibrillators shop website.
Defibrillators for workplaces
Getting a defibrillator for your workplace protects your staff and customers in a life-threatening emergency. It could also protect the wider community.
Download the defib guide for organisations
Defibrillators for communities
You could save lives by getting a defibrillator for your parish council, residents group, social club, place of worship or other community group.
Download the defib guide for communities
HeartSafe Communities guide
British Heart Foundation teamed up with St John Ambulance, Resuscitation Council UK and Oliver Cookson Foundation to form the HeartSafe Communities Project, which aimed to make a community in Manchester more resilient to cardiac arrest.
Our HeartSafe Communities guide is based on our findings and is designed for anyone with an interest in making their community safer. It includes information and guidance to help you:
- determine where is best to place a defibrillator
- organise CPR training
- engage your community to become more 'HeartSafe'.
Download the Heartsafe Communities guide
Getting a funded defibrillator in your community
We sometimes offer funded defibrillators to community groups. If it will be publicly available in your community, you may be able to get a free, BHF-funded defibrillator.
Find out more about BHF-funded defibrillators for community groups.
Defibrillators for schools
A defibrillator in your school could save the lives of students, staff or visitors if they have a cardiac arrest.
A defibrillator that is owned and managed by the school should be kept outside the school gates in a heated and unlocked cabinet. This means that anyone could access it in an emergency, so it would be more likely to save a life.
All state-funded primary and secondary schools in England have been given a defibrillator by the Government. If you’re an independent school, you may be able to buy one at a reduced cost through the NHS Supply Chain.
If you need to buy one, you could fundraise through sponsorship, donations and activities like fairs and bake sales.
Visit our BHF Defibrillators shop to browse our range of high-quality defibrillators.
Registering your defibrillator on the national defibrillator network
As a defibrillator owner, you play a vital role in ensuring it’s registered and ready to save lives. Registering it on The Circuit – the national defibrillator network, ensures that the precise location of your defibrillator is known to ambulance services. This is crucial for quick access and can significantly contribute to saving lives.
Find out more and register your defibrillator on The Circuit now.
