Tostock has a Community Public Accessible Defibrillator (CPAD) or Automated External Defibrillator (AED) for the use of the local community, 24 hours a day. It is sited in the telephone box on The Green.

The defibrillator was supplied by East of England Ambulance Service, the enclosure was purchased by the Parish Council and installed, at no charge, by H M Electrics.
Sudden cardiac arrest claims around 150,000-200,000 lives each year in the United Kingdom, with survival rates being around 5% - 10% outside of a hospital setting.

If a person’s heart has stopped due to an accident or heart attack and is in a rhythm called ventricular fibrillation, the only way to get the heart into a more regular sustaining beat is to pass an electrical charge through the heart muscle. The first three to four minutes are the most vital for the collapsed person and, if first aid and a defibrillator are on hand, then the chance of survival will increase considerably.

In the event of a person collapsing you will still need to dial 999 to call for the ambulance. The ambulance service will direct the caller to where the CPAD site is and will give the caller the key code for the cabinet.

The ambulance service will have all addresses logged within the town/village location so will be able to direct the caller to the exact location of where the CPAD site is.

The UK Resuscitation Council guidelines state that there is no requirement to be trained in the use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and that in the event of a person collapsing the non-trained person should still use the AED as the step by step voice prompts that are part of the AED talks the user through the process of what to do.

If someone is having a cardiac arrest, using an AED and undertaking CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) will improve the chances of survival. AED’s are really safe to use. There have never been any reports of an AED harming the patient, user or bystander. In addition, there have been no reports of an AED delivering any inappropriate shocks.