Tesco has become the first UK supermarket to use a new national database established by British Heart Foundation (BHF).
The Circuit database alerts ambulance services of the location of every registered defibrillator in communities across the UK. This has allowed regional ambulance service to direct bystanders o the closest registered defibrillator.
In partnership with the British Heart Foundation, Tesco has also installed defibrillators across its stores in 2016.
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The Big 4 grocer has planned to expand to 2,500 defibrillators across all its stores and distribution centres by May.
Tesco’s decision to join Circuit comes as more than 30,000 people in the UK suffer from cardiac arrest outside hospitals with a survival rate of 10%.
Publicly accessible defibrillators are often unknown to ambulance services and are less likely to be used in emergencies.
“We are delighted to be working with the British Heart Foundation on this important project and hope that our support forThe Circuit will help any customers or members of the public who need it,” a Tesco spokesperson said.
“We also hope that all organisations with defibrillators will now consider registering them on the system, to help the BHF achieve their goal of 70,000 new defibrillators before the end of the year.”
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