All Underground and Overground stations now have public defibrillators

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today announced that all London Underground and Overground stations, as well as Dial-a-Ride vehicles, now have public access defibrillators in case a passenger suffers cardiac arrest.

Last year the London Ambulance Service (LAS) responded to about 13,000 cardiac arrests across the capital.

Fewer than one in 10 people currently survive a cardiac arrest. For every minute that goes by without intervention like CPR and defibrillation, the chances of a person surviving cardiac arrest drops by 10 per cent.

City Hall, the LAS NHS Trust and Transport for London (TfL) have now completed a huge roll-out of defibrillators across the transport network.

This means that every single borough now has a TfL defibrillator that anyone can access.

The Mayor, LAS and TfL have also launched a short training video, presented by the BBC’s Dr Chris van Tulleken and community resuscitation training officer Alexa Barton from LAS, which demonstrates how to perform chest compressions and use a defibrillator.

Londoners will also be able to find heart-shaped QR codes on every defibrillator in the TfL network. These QR codes take you straight to a video on City Hall’s website which will show you how to perform CPR and use the defibrillator.

The roll-out has been introduced alongside the LAS’s London Lifesavers campaign in schools. Starting with Year 8 students, more than 200 students from six schools will be trained with CPR and how to use a defibrillator at City Hall today.

Mr Khan said: “It’s important that Londoners not only have the kit but the skills to step in and assist when someone is having a cardiac arrest.

“This roll-out will ensure people travelling in our city feel safe and confident that they will be helped in the case of an emergency, and supports my aim to continue building a safer and fairer London for all.” 

Pictured top: Sadiq Khan trying out the QR code on the new defibrillators (Picture: Caroline Teo)