Hansard

I am grateful to Jenni Minto for lodging the motion. She made a powerful speech—as we have learned to expect from Ms Minto in this chamber—and she used her personal experience to make a powerful point, from which we can all learn. It was a brilliant tribute to Carl Reavey to tell his story in the chamber, so that we can all learn from it.

The debate gives us an opportunity to raise awareness, more generally, of the importance of defibrillator use and registration. I commend the work of the British Heart Foundation, the Scottish Ambulance Service and other partners who are involved in developing the Circuit, which is an important tool to support our aim of ensuring that defibrillators are as accessible as possible in times of need.

I also thank the many other organisations and individuals who have taken and continue to take action to improve survival from cardiac arrest in Scotland. That includes people who deliver CPR training and anyone who takes up that training—more than 640,000 people across Scotland have done so since 2015. It includes people who raise funds for the placement of a defibrillator in their community, the emergency services who respond to instances of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and, of course, anyone out there who has stepped in to help when witnessing someone experience a cardiac arrest.

I also take this opportunity to congratulate the heartstart group in Ms Minto’s constituency, Argyll and Bute, which recently won a Scottish health award for its commitment to delivering CPR training in schools, workplaces and community settings.

Since Save a Life for Scotland, of which the Scottish Government is a key member, published its first strategy in 2015, there has been a significant increase in the number of people who survive a cardiac arrest in Scotland. In 2015, around one in 20 people survived; the rate now is one in 10. That is incredible progress, of which we should be extremely proud.

However, we know that we can do more to save lives. That is why the Save a Life for Scotland partnership refreshed its strategy this year. The partners have now set the aim of increasing survival to 15 per cent by 2026. We have seen the survival rate increase from 5 to 10 per cent; now we are aiming for 15 per cent.

I draw members’ attention to two important points about the strategy. The first is its focus on addressing inequalities—a number of members raised that issue. The second is its focus on the importance of increasing the defibrillation rate.

Although we rightly celebrate the improvements in survival since 2015, we are acutely aware that some people are less likely to survive than others. We know that people who live in more economically deprived areas face substantial inequalities. They are more likely to have a cardiac arrest and, when they do, they are less likely to survive than people who live in less deprived areas.

We also know that people who live in rural areas are less likely to survive than those who live in urban areas.

We want to tackle those inequalities. That is why the refreshed strategy embeds a focus on working collaboratively with such communities and delivering targeted work around awareness and training.

As has been highlighted throughout the debate, the role that prompt defibrillation plays in the chain of survival is absolutely key. As part of the overall aim to increase survival, the refresh strategy seeks to increase the number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that have a defibrillator applied before the ambulance service arrives from 8 to 20 per cent. First, we are going to improve bystander confidence in using them. Save a Life for Scotland is already working to achieve that through better embedding defibrillator use into awareness-raising campaigns and CPR training across Scotland.

We need to ensure that defibrillators are optimally placed and that they are as accessible as possible. On the issue that Mr Lumsden raised on access codes for defibrillator cabinets, we would thoroughly recommend that defibrillator guardians follow the advice of the Resuscitation Council UK and consider placing their defibrillators in an unlocked cabinet to make them as accessible as possible. RCUK highlights that, thankfully,

“Despite widespread use of unlocked cabinets ... instances of theft and vandalism ... are relatively uncommon.”

Let me outline how the registration of defibrillators is crucial. First, in an incident of cardiac arrest, it is important that the Scottish Ambulance Service call handler can quickly identify whether there is a defibrillator nearby and then direct a bystander to collect it. Then, they can talk them through applying it. That is only possible if the defibrillator is registered and therefore visible to the call handler. That is reason number 1 to register a defibrillator: it increases the likelihood that it will be used if a cardiac arrest occurs nearby.

The second reason is that the registration of defibrillators will enable us to have an overview of the defibrillator footprint right across Scotland. We know that there are many defibrillators out there but, as many members have said, we could be better at ensuring that they are placed in areas where cardiac arrests are most likely to occur.

That brings me back to the importance of addressing inequalities. We know that most incidents of cardiac arrest occur in areas that are less likely to have extensive defibrillator coverage. The registration of all defibrillators in Scotland would provide a wealth of evidence to support people and organisations in making informed decisions about where to place their life-saving device. That would help to ensure that their generous actions would be most likely to have the impact intended.

Rather than pursuing legislative routes to mandate where defibrillators go, for example in new buildings, we are really keen to continue the collaborative, partnership approach to improving outcomes from cardiac arrest—an approach that has been so successful to date.

In relation to building regulations, however, we are carrying out a review of permitted development rights, which involves removing the need to apply for planning permission for certain forms of development. As part of the review, we have committed to considering the case for introducing new or extended PDR for a wide range of development types, including defibrillator cabinets. At the moment, it is necessary to apply for planning permission to place a defibrillator in an external area of a building, but we are consulting on whether that requirement should be removed. That consultation has been affected by the pandemic, but it remains part of our work plan, and it will be published in due course.

I am more than happy to write to the UK Government on the issue of VAT. I know from an answer to a question in Westminster recently that there is already a VAT relief scheme for the purchase of automated external defibrillators—AEDs—which covers local authority purchase, eligible charities and the NHS. The UK Government stated in its answer that it keeps taxes under review. Far be it from me to defend the UK Government, but there is a scheme there. I will absolutely lend my weight to anyone else in the chamber who wishes to write to see whether we can get that scheme extended to all defibrillator purchases.

We have seen significant progress in survival from cardiac arrest in Scotland over the past five years. That is a testament to many individuals and organisations, and it is a reminder of the many tragedies that have led people to campaign, as we have heard this evening. I thank them for their work to date, and I look forward to working together to continue progress.

I reiterate my thanks to the British Heart Foundation, the Scottish Ambulance Service and other partners for the development of the Circuit. Finally, I offer my thanks to every defibrillator guardian in Scotland. Your actions play a vital part in helping to save lives from cardiac arrest. I finish by asking: have you registered yours yet?