Table Tennis England have partnered with London Hearts Charity to improve the accessibility to defibrillators for table tennis clubs in England.

London Hearts is a charity dedicated to and specialising in the supply and roll out of heart defibrillators throughout the UK. Table tennis clubs are often the hub of communities and are used by many different teams and community groups. However, many of these integral community spaces currently do not have defibrillators in place.

This partnership aims to change that and ensure that in the future every player and spectator at every table tennis club in England, no matter how big or small, will have access to a lifesaving heart defibrillator.

With more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests across the UK every year and less than one in ten surviving, the use of a defibrillator is vital, as without immediate treatment, 90-95 per cent of sudden cardiac arrest victims will die.

Kimberley Lloyd, London Hearts Head of Operations, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Table Tennis England in this life-saving initiative and to teach CPR and defibrillator skills to everyone.

“We hope that this equipment will help to mitigate the risk from sudden cardiac arrests in table tennis clubs across England. No one in England should die due to a lack of access to a defibrillator in the event of an emergency.”

The West Wilts Table Tennis League recently purchased a defibrillator through London Hearts. Talking of their experience, League Committee Member Simon Cutler said: “In the venue we use we have league games, Senior, Vets, Junior & Cadet county games and League and County Championships.

“It’s important to us as in the past, player members have suffered heart problems and the player average age is rising. And it’s not only seniors that sometimes suffer, the younger players can as well.

“Our experience (with London Hearts) was one of excellent customer service, any information requested was given to us, no pressure selling, phone and emails answered in a very short time with explanations and answers supplied.

“My message to others would be that London Hearts as a charitable organisation have proved themselves very capable in the supply of defibrillators and are very knowledgeable about the different types available at a cost to the customer which was not matched.”

Information on the types of defibrillators provided by London Hearts can be found in the PDF documents below.

** Automated external defibrillators (AEDS) are portable devices that check the patient’s heart rhythm. If a problem is detected, they send an electric shock to the heart to restore a normal rhythm. If a person does not need the shock of an AED, the machine will not deliver a shock. It is not possible to hurt someone with an AED; they can only be used to save someone’s life.

No formal training is necessary to operate an AED in a medical emergency as they “talk” the operator through the necessary steps. These defibrillators will ensure that, should any of passengers suffer a cardiac arrest within the vicinity of one of these AEDs, station staff or fellow passengers will be able to administer lifesaving actions before the ambulance arrives.