Defibrillators could be based at Telford electricity substations
Electrical substations in Telford could soon house public-access defibrillators, as part of a plan to place potentially lifesaving devices around a council parish.
Earlier this year, Hadley and Leegomery Parish Council approved a scheme to provide 11 of the devices.
Parish clerk Jonathan Brumwell told a recent meeting they were “struggling” to find locations in Apley, an area that lacks viable public or commercial sites, so they approached Western Power Distribution who said it would be possible to use their structures.
He also told members that some devices – which are protected by a code lock and use electric shocks to re-establish the rhythm of the heart – were already in use, with one accessed in an emergency.
Mr Brumwell said: “We’re struggling to find sites in Apley because there are fewer public or commercial sites to put them in.
“What we’ve got in Apley are some electricity substations that have solid walls, owned by Western Power Distribution.
Highly visible
“We’ve approached them. Western Power Distribution have said it should be possible, and that will allow us to put defibrillators at other sites where there wouldn’t otherwise be any.”
He said a petrol station at Trench Lock, Hadley, was the most recent location to agree to host a defibrillator.
He described this site as “ideal, because it is manned 24 hours a day and highly visible”.
Mr Brumwell added that one of the council’s previously-installed defibrillators was accessed.
“It wasn’t used but the access code was given to either an ambulance crew or a member of the public,” he said.
“It was checked afterwards and has been returned to service.”
