The National Ambulance Service (NAS) has said there are thousands of defibrillators across the country not currently registered on its database, which could potentially delay a person accessing one of the life-saving devices in a medical emergency.
An Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use, portable device that can, if necessary, deliver an electrical shock to help a person's heart re-establish a normal rhythm.
The devices are typically stored in wall-mounted cabinets that are located in public places that have a high volume of footfall. Such cabinets often require a code for the device to be accessed.
The NAS maintains a national registry of AED locations that is used in real-time by emergency dispatchers to direct people to the life-saving devices.
However, the NAS has said many defibrillators across the country remain unregistered or inaccessible, limiting their potential to help people during a medical emergency.
Of the more than 9,000 AEDs known to be in Ireland through consultations with the suppliers of the devices, almost half of this number are not registered.
This means that around 4,500 AEDs across the country may not be able to be located or accessed in an emergency.
As a result, all individuals, businesses, sports clubs and community groups who own an AED are being urged to register their device with the NAS to help save more lives during cardiac emergencies.
Community Engagement Officer with the NAS for the Dublin and North East area, Liam Stewart has said early CPR and the rapid use of a defibrillator can mean the difference between life and death.
"One of the real advantages of the defibrillator is that it dramatically improves the person’s chance of survival if they have a sudden cardiac arrest in the community.
"We have over 4,500 defibrillators in our database at the moment that we can direct callers to if they ring 999 or 112 and are talking to the ambulance service.
"However, from speaking to suppliers, we know there is many, many more thousands of defibrillators across the country that we don’t know about," he said.
To encourage more uptake, the NAS introduced a registration form on its website that can be submitted with the location details for an AED.
Since 2022, the service has doubled the number of defibrillators on its database from around 2,000 to over 4,500.
Last year, the NAS also appointed a dedicated co-ordinator to manage the AED database for Ireland, who has undertaken a review of defibrillator submissions and how best to integrate this data into its dispatch system based on best practice from other jurisdictions.
Clíodhna Ward from Co Monaghan has been a member of the Order of Malta since she was ten years old.
After learning about the low number of AEDs registered on the NAS database, the 17-year-old student at Our Lady’s Secondary School in Castleblayney said she had to do something about it.
Her campaign, entitled "30 Seconds of Your Time Could Give Someone 30 More Years of Theirs", aims to try and increase AED registrations across Ireland.
"I initially started my research back in September in my locality in Monaghan. I found out how many AEDs were registered and then compared this to how many actually were there, and the results were shocking.
"As a first aider myself, I know how important an AED is and the importance of getting it to the location as quick as possible. There are so many AEDs out there, like you look at GAA clubs and how much fundraising they have done to get one. [They are located] at rugby clubs, even in libraries. Anywhere you go, there is now an AED.
"But if you went say down the country on your holidays to Kerry, I’m from Monaghan and I wouldn’t know where the nearest AED is in Kerry and that’s the biggest problem.
"If you phone 999, they should be fit to give you the nearest registered AED. But if it’s not registered, it won't come up on their system, which leads people to go 10-15 minutes down the road, when, in reality, an AED could be three minutes away from you," Clíodhna said.
Watch: Call to add unregistered defibrillators to database
Ms Ward went on to say that registering an AED is usually the easiest part of the process, given the time and money often required to acquire one of the life-saving devices in the first place.
"My campaign is only the start of something that really urgently needs to be done to get people to register their AEDs all across the country. When you think about it, the amount of fundraising and hard work that goes into getting an AED in the community, it is just getting that final step to get people to register their AED with the National Ambulance Service," she said.
Monaghan Rugby Club is one of those organisations which recently raised the money needed to have an AED installed in a cabinet on the exterior wall of the clubhouse.
Stephen McCabe, who is the chair of the club’s minis group for younger players, said it is also important to check in with the NAS after the device has been registered.
"We had two incidents within a very short time, which highlighted the registration had not gone live with the National Ambulance Service call centre.
"One here in the club where a spectator got into difficulty and the AED had to be sent for. When we contacted the emergency services, they weren’t able to supply the code for the box to the person who was on the phone.
"And then approximately 12 days later, there was a local incident where a person was sent for an AED as well.
"Initially, they were sent to a decommissioned one. And that woman was actually aware of the advertising we put out that there was a new AED here at the club, so she came down here, but they weren’t able to provide her with the code for the lockbox.
"Luckily enough, there were no deaths or serious outcomes from either of those two incidents," he said.
Mr McCabe went on to say that the issue was immediately resolved after the club highlighted it with the NAS.
"In fairness, we got back on to the co-ordinator and she was able to get to the bottom of it with the IT section, and it has been rectified now," he added.
In a statement, the NAS said: "Every registration of an AED by an owner, such as a community group, private business, or sports club, is manually reviewed by the administration team to ensure clarity and accuracy of instructions.
"It does not automatically go live on the national system until a validation process has been completed. Owners are then informed that their AED is now live and are sent a sheet with advice on how to regularly check the device.
"In addition, work has been undertaken, in conjunction with community first responders and voluntary aid groups, to verify the readiness of defibrillators in the community and the accuracy of our database.
"Where devices are found to be 'not ready to use’, they are removed from our database. Where possible, the owner is notified and given advice. These efforts are being used to inform how we can best continue to ensure defibrillators are accessible and ready to use.
"If a defibrillator is no longer available, the NAS is reliant on the person who originally submitted the registration to inform us to remove the device. Typically, devices are removed from our system within 48 hours, once we are notified".
The Castleblayney Community First Responders are notified by the NAS about cardiac arrests that occur in their area.
Martina Murray, the co-ordinator of the group, said that familiarising yourself with where your local AED is located can also prove vital.
"For every minute the defibrillator is not used, a person’s chance of survival will drop. So, knowing where your local one is, if it is two minutes away, three minutes away, it will buy them time before we arrive on scene as well.
"And often that is the case, where people have run to their local GAA club, their local church, or chapel where the device has been registered and that has made a big difference to some people’s lives, so it is a brilliant initiative that Clíodhna has come up with.
Mr Stewart from the NAS advised people to go to their website and fill out an AED registration form.
"You can go to www.nationalambulanceservice.ie/aed and fill out the registration form from there. Then, we know about the defibrillator, we can verify it, and we can make sure that we have the details correct.
"And then, if there is an emergency call in the area and a defibrillator is required, we can notify the people who made the call about the location of that AED," he added.
Those who would like to check if their AED is listed on the NAS register already can do so by emailing cfr@hse.ie.
