Council supports defibrillator notice of motion

Cllr Dermot Nicholl brought the motion which read: “That this Council agrees to: Review and where appropriate, remedy its provision of defibrillators across its entire public estate to ensure no gaps exist in adequate service provision.

“This needs to include our leisure facilities, Council offices, Community centres and areas of high public footfall; Undertake a programme of training for staff who have daily contact with the public in the use of Defibrillators and CPR and The Council being requested to bring together charities and campaign groups working in this field along with local Chamber of Commerce Reps and other key stakeholders to shape an action plan for adequate provision of PAD’s (Publically Accessed Defibrillators) in town centre locations alongside provision in shopping centres and highly populated areas.”

The motion was sesconded by Cllr Ian Stevenson and carried.

Director of Leisure and Development, Richard Baker told members of the committee which met on Tuesday that he had just recently had a meeting the with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service. He said that the provision of the defibrillator service was “not something we can do alone” and the way ahead would probably be a memorandum of understanding with the Ambulance Service.