The Community Heartbeat Trust charity (“CHT”) is a national charity, working in all 4 of the main UK countries. Unlike retailers, and other organisations, the purpose of the Community Heartbeat Trust charity is to support communities in the provision of Governance led, Sustainable and Resilient defibrillator projects. To date, we have delivered over 9000 projects (April 2024). Currently we are focussing on farms and other rural locations.

We also have an ongoing relationship with Your Co-op, find out more in the video below and here.

All surpluses of the CHT Charity, apart from a small retainer to ensure the long-term provision of the Charity, are used to fulfil our ‘Objects’ and thus we are significant donors of defibrillators to needy causes. CHT is also supporting less fortunate communities, such as children’s homes, religious institutions, needy families and homeless centres, and contributes to medical research into OHSCA and related areas. CHT also runs a ‘unloved sites fund’ to support forgotten cPAD sites, of any supplier.

CHT coined the terms cPAD, and Heartbeat Hero. We account for around 10% of all UK cPADs, and also have around 1800 responders; submitted over 600,000 status reports; resolved over 3500 maintenance issues; deployed to over 5000 SCA; conducted over 500 investigation reports with ambulance services/MHRA; and trained face to face well over 250,000 people in BLS (excluding on-line, videos or talks).

All CHT projects since 2011 come with the free WebNos Governance application included, the UK’s only cPAD governance system, and a national database of locations and information. WebNos allows for multiple sites to be reviewed by a single caretaker, or for a single managing organisation to be able to see all sites under their control (eg. a sport association; ambulance service, funding organisation; or council). It is there to help a community manage their defibrillator sites (including the cabinets and ancillary areas), through a structured system, covering all aspects of the service, and helping meet liabilities.

CHT was the founder of the use of telephone kiosks as defibrillator sites, and is still the only partner with BT in this respect. It is also used by insurance companies to monitor sites to aid compliance, and data is also fed to the National Defibrillator Database, a publicly accessible map of defibrillators, showing their operational status of sites. WebNos was designed with ambulance service input and also coroner service input. It is rich, powerful and easy to use.

CHT works and partners with many organisations, including working with JC Decaux with whom we are placing over 700 defibrillators into city locations. These installations are supported by local clinicians and Ambulance services. These kiosks also have the potential to educate the public through advertising and health information videos, and had a significant impact during Covid 19.

We also work nationally with Rotary, Cricket, Rugby, Bowls, Croquet, several retail and commercial chains, and other charities offering complimentary services, and support local smaller charities in the establishment of defibrillator schemes. We are one piece of the jigsaw, but not the whole picture, but what we offer is innovation, and out-of-the-box thinking along with a strong governance ethos, and of course, best practice. We are not afraid to speak out and challenge established ideas and methods, and seek new ways to educate the public, and save lives. CHT was also a founder member of both Save a Life Cymru, and PADS Scotland.