FOI 25-352 AED's in Home Environments

Freedom of Information Request

Reference
FOI 25-352 AED's in Home Environments
Request Date
13 Aug 2025
Response Date
20 Aug 2025
Information Requested

Dear FOI Officer, Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following information regarding out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) attended by your service over the past 3 years (or the most recent period for which data is available):  

  1. The total number of OHCA incidents that occurred in private residential settings (e.g. home, flat, care home, or similar). 
  2. Of these, how many incidents involved only one other person present (i.e. the individual who made the emergency call)? 
  3. In those incidents, how often was a defibrillator (AED) retrieved and used prior to ambulance arrival? 
  4. Where available, how many cases recorded that an AED could not be used because: 

 (a) the bystander was unable to leave the patient to retrieve it (e.g. CPR in progress),  

Or 

(b) an AED was unavailable, inaccessible, or non-operational.  

  1. If possible, how many incidents noted that an attempt was made to retrieve an AED but it could not be brought to the patient in time to be used? 
  2. If this information is not centrally recorded, could it be extracted from: 
  • CAD data (computer-aided dispatch) 
  • 999 call transcripts 
  • ePCRs (electronic patient care records) 
  • Or relevant narrative fields completed by attending clinicians? 

 

The purpose of this request is to understand the frequency and circumstances in which cardiac arrests occur in settings where a bystander is present, but an AED cannot be accessed or used. This may highlight unmet needs in current AED deployment strategies and is of particular public interest given national efforts to improve out-of-hospital survival rates.  

Response

The Scottish Ambulance Service does not categorise incidents in a way that allows us to report on specific location groups like private residences.  It is for this reason we are applying section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002, as information not held on the use of AED in private residential settings. 

 

There’s a distinction between creating new information, and compiling information already held. Where a request can be answered by compiling information from readily available resources held by the public authority, this is not the same as creating new information. However, if collation of the information would require skill and complex judgement, the information is not held. 

 

There are also no datasets that allows us to report if another person was present, reasons for an AED not being used/retrieved. 

The information availably held by the Scottish Ambulance Service for Out-Of-Hospital cardiac arrests is reported in the OOHCA reports available on our website OHCA report 2023-24 (final) 

 

The report for 24/25 us currently being audited and will be available in the near future. 

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