Nationwide, the world's largest building society, has installed life-saving defibrillators and bleed control kits at 225 branches across the UK, providing communities with round-the-clock access to emergency equipment seven days a week.
The announcement was made on Friday, August 7, as part of an extensive UK-wide deployment. Nationwide, which operates the UK's largest branch network, has fitted the publicly accessible equipment at branches in regions including East Anglia, London, the North East, North West, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South East, South West, the Midlands, Wales, and Yorkshire.
Rollout to all 605 branches
The installations are part of Nationwide's pledge to equip all 605 of its branches throughout the UK with defibrillators and bleed control kits by the end of the year, with Virgin Money branches scheduled to follow suit. The scheme is believed to be the UK's largest-ever combined rollout of its kind and is being delivered in partnership with Visa, with St John Ambulance collaborating with Nationwide to provide life-saving training for staff and local communities.
Nationwide employees have the opportunity to undertake specialist training developed by St John Ambulance, equipping colleagues with the skills to operate a defibrillator, respond to serious bleeding incidents, and perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while awaiting the arrival of emergency services. Guidance on how to respond to a severe bleed, cardiac arrest, and how to use a defibrillator is available via the St John Ambulance website.
Community training sessions
In a bid to boost public confidence, Nationwide is also partnering with St John Ambulance to deliver volunteer-led 'Heart of Community' sessions, sharing potentially life-saving skills with local communities. These sessions aim to give members of the public the knowledge and confidence to operate a defibrillator, treat a serious bleed with or without a bleed control kit, and administer CPR.
Since the nationwide rollout commenced in June, 48 defibrillators have already been activated, underlining the significance of the initiative.
Professor Andrew Hartle, Chief Medical Officer at St John Ambulance, said: "Every minute counts in an emergency, and having access to a defibrillator or bleed control kit can make a vital difference before the ambulance service arrives."
"By increasing the availability of this life-saving equipment and giving more people the confidence to use it, we can help communities be better prepared to respond when it matters most. We're proud to be working with Nationwide and Visa on an initiative that is helping put the power of first aid into more people's hands."
