LIVES could be put at risk because of changes to the way public access defibrillators are registered, according to a leading campaigner.

The warning has come from Guiseley man Brian Firth who launched the Global CPAD Campaign in 2013 to raise awareness and funding for community public access defibrillators.

His Campaign now has 153 CPADs, most of them being installed within the Yorkshire area - and eight lives have already been saved.

Since 2013 there have also been numerous CPADs installed by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service itself, some of which are now serviced by the Campaign, and many others funded independently by groups and local councils.

But Mr Firth is warning that some of the defibrillators are at risk because of the new system of registration.

He said: "At the moment the procedure of registering and activating Community Public Access Defibrillators is very simple and effective.

"A funding party acquires and installs the defibrillator and external cabinet. It is then registered with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service complete with the appropriate security code to access it.

"In the event of an emergency the Ambulance Service activate the defibrillator informing the caller of its location and code, and it is temporarily removed from the system.

"The Ambulance Service then inform the defibrillator owner or guardian of its deployment so that it can be checked to ensure that it is still rescue ready. Once notified of such the Ambulance Service put it back on the system. All information provided to the Ambulance Service is strictly confidential and used only to activate the defibrillators.

"The equipment remains the property of the owner at all times, being totally under their control, subject only to the required compliance of readiness for use."

He stressed: "However, things are about to change in a way that will almost inevitably create the loss of some of the Public Access Defibrillators installed in our communities, and the reduction of new defibrillators introduced into the community.

"The British Heart Foundation, in conjunction with St John Ambulance, have launched the "Circuit" which is to be a national database of all the Public Access Defibrillators in the UK. Every Ambulance Trust in the UK is scheduled to transfer its database of PADs to the Circuit. The Yorkshire Ambulance Trust is now going through that process and have requested that every CPAD owner or guardian register their defibrillators by July 12, or risk them not being activated in an emergency. "Furthermore, no new CPADs can be registered with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service after the end of June, they can only be registered with the Circuit if installed after the first of July."

Mr Firth said the stated principle of the Circuit was quite sound and would be beneficial to many independent CPAD owners.

He said: "In simple terms it means that when someone rings 999 the Ambulance Service link with the Circuits interface and it is then the Circuit that activates the defibrillator and informs the owner/guardian that it has been deployed.

"Unfortunately, there are numerous defibrillator owners, including the Global CPAD Campaign, that are quite sceptical of the long term objectives of the BHF and SJA, suspecting that holding a national database will inevitably lead to them creating a more commercial aspect to the scheme.

"The Circuit contract itself creates concern as to the additional reporting requirements, control, and their ability to amend their objectives if deemed to necessary. They are already experiencing difficulties in registering some of the CPADs that are for example installed at a football field with no postcode.

"Due to the complexity of the Circuits contract and the number of grey areas that exist, some CPAD owners are now threatening to remove their CPADs or move them indoors which means they are no longer available to the public 24/7. They may, over a period of time, replace them once their confidence in the Circuit has grown, but in the short term it will be a loss to the community that could cost lives."

Mr Firth has had discussions with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service regarding the Circuit, and has a video meeting set up with the British Heart Foundation. If anyone wants to contact Mr Firth to clarify what this may mean to their community defibrillators and the options open to them, they can ring him on 07909660375.

In a response on behalf of The Circuit Judy O’Sullivan of the British Heart Foundation said: “Every second counts when someone has a cardiac arrest. Every minute without CPR or defibrillation reduces a person’s chance of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest by around 10 per cent.

“Knowing where a defibrillator is located is critical to ensuring someone has the best possible chance of survival. The Circuit will make it possible to have every UK defibrillator mapped and ready to be deployed by the ambulance service to save lives. It is simple and easy to register a defibrillator on the Circuit – whether it’s a football field, an office block or the local pub.

“The Circuit’s only mission is to triple survival rates, and make life saving defibrillators as easy to access as possible. Its purpose is strictly non-commercial – in fact, millions of charitable donations have been invested by the BHF since this important project was started.”