Tesco and BHF Circuit

16 February 2022

Every year in the UK, more than 30,000 people have a cardiac arrest outside hospital, with survival rates of less than 10%, the patient’s chance of survival can be increased by providing CPR and defibrillation as soon as possible. A defibrillator gives a high energy electric shock to the heart to help restart the heart after a cardiac arrest.  In the UK, most public access defibrillators are unknown to ambulance services and less likely to be used in emergencies. 

In partnership with the British Heart Foundation, we have installed defibrillators in many of our Tesco stores since 2016.  We are now in the process of ensuring every store, distribution centre and office has one, to help us get to our target of over 2,500 by May. This is one of the many ways we support the communities we serve.

Today, we are proud to announce that we are the first supermarket to join The Circuit – a new national database established by British Heart Foundation, that lets ambulance services know the location of every registered defibrillator in communities across the UK

Regional ambulance services have previously had to locate defibrillators using their own regional databases. The Circuit is a pioneering new database that maps defibrillators across the UK, which means that ambulance services can direct bystanders to the closest registered defibrillator.  Making sure that anyone who needs a defibrillator can access one, can mean saving a life.

We are delighted to be working with the British Heart Foundation on this important project and hope that our support for The Circuit will help any customers or members of the public who need it.   

We also hope that all organisations with defibrillators will now consider registering them on the system, to help the BHF achieve their goal of 70,000 new defibrillators before the end of the year.