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A new project has been launched at Wigan’s hospitals to make sure that all of their life-saving defibrillators are always ready to be used.

Every defibrillator in the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh (WWL) Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is now connected to the Readiness Dashboard, which does a self-automated check on the device to make sure everything works.

Any problems or failures are highlighted and notified to the Medical Electronics team and Resuscitation Services Department, right away.

This means WWL can ensure that patient safety is not compromised, and lives are saved, as the machines are always ready when they’re needed.

Febin Sebastian, left, and members of the Medical Electronics Team, who worked on the project at WWL

Defibrillators are incredibly important, as they can dramatically increase the chance of survival for someone in cardiac arrest.

However, if there are any problems or failures with a device, it can sometimes be too late for that to be noticed, when the defibrillator is needed.

Febin Sebastian, who is acting medical equipment manager at WWL, said: “This project took us many months to complete, since we had 155 defibrillators throughout the trust, all of which required reconfigurations and linking to a secure network, which our Medical Electronics team successfully performed.

“We wanted to act pro-actively, as the safety of the patients we deal with is critical, and these changes will also help staff – reducing their daily workload, helping them be more efficient, and reducing human error.

Some of the defibrillator equipment at WWL

“Without this system in place, we wouldn’t know a defibrillator wasn’t ready to be used until someone had either done a physical check on them, or when it was needed.

"We are very proud of the project, and it is the first step towards using technology like this to improve patient care.”

Marcus Summers, the head of operational estates at the hospital trust, said: “In setting up the Dashboard, the Medical Electronics Department’s pro-active work will greatly assist in ensuring that our defibrillators are ‘good and ready to go’ when required in an emergency.

"Congratulations to the team in implementing and rolling out this important operational improvement initiative.”

The next phase will see the project rolled out to community teams within the trust

New project launched to improve safety of defibrillators at Wigan's hospitals