Doherty welcomes HIQA’s consideration of providing defibrillators in public places

Fine Gael Meath East TD, Regina Doherty, has today (Thursday) welcomed the announcement that the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) is examining whether defibrillators should be provided in public places, to deal with out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. It comes as the Ashbourne Cardiac First Responders group is awarded €6,270 in funding through National Lottery grants allocated by the Department of Health.

“Following a request from the Minister for Health, James Reilly TD, HIQA is examining whether we should install defibrillators in public places – a move which I believe will save lives. The survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests ranged from just 3% to 11% between 2003 and 2008.

“HIQA is considering whether introducing defibrillators widely would help to increase these survival rates. A group of experts has been put together to provide advice and critically review the draft report which will be compiled by HIQA.

“This all comes as the newly established Ashbourne Cardiac First Responders (CFR) has been awarded €6,270 to contribute towards the cost of outdoor defibrillators. I understand that Ratoath CRF, which has been in existence for two years, just had their first incident to respond to in recent weeks. These local groups deserve to be commended for their efforts in providing this life saving service.

“I look forward to the final report from HIQA, which will of course also consider the cost implications of providing public defibrillators, and I hope it will lead to the roll out of the devices nationwide.”

ENDS