LIFSAVING defibrillators are being hunted down as North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS) launches the second year of ‘Shoctober’.

Ambulance services need to know where all public defibrillators in their area are located so emergency medical dispatchers can direct 999 callers to them in the event of a nearby cardiac arrest.

A cardiac arrest occurs when person’s heart stops pumping blood around their body and to their brain. Without intervention, the person will die within minutes.

Defibrillators can ‘shock’ a person’s heart into restarting in the event of a cardiac arrest and if this can be done in the vital first few minutes, patients have a 60-70 per cent chance of making a full recovery.

Last year during Shoctober the trust received almost 6,000 tweets which led to the discovery of 290 defibrillators.

NWAS community engagement manager Andrew Redgrave said: “The use of public defibrillators can mean the difference between life and death for a patient in cardiac arrest.

“They allow members of the public can become lifesavers by delivering the all-important shock before we’ve arrived. Even just two or three minutes earlier can make a huge difference.

“We know that many people raise funds to have these installed but they often forget to tell us.

“This means that we could get a call for a suspected cardiac arrest where this vital piece of kit is available and we can’t tell the caller to go and get it.”

Last year the trust attended 13,579 suspected cardiac arrests.

Defibrillators are often marked with a sign showing a white heart on a green background or could just be mounted on a wall behind bars, in corridors, gyms, leisure centres, offices, tourist attractions, schools, colleges, restaurants and coffee shops.

If people find one they are asked to tweet the photo via @NWambulance using the hashtag #findthedefib, giving as much information as possible regarding its location or email nwasenquiries@nwas.nhs.uk.