THE Welsh Ambulance Service is calling on people to help save lives by locating their nearest defibrillator.

It comes as the trust launches its annual Defibuary campaign, which is aimed at raising awareness of what a defibrillator is and where to find the closest one when someone goes into cardiac arrest.

Throughout February, the service is encouraging people to take a selfie with their nearest defibrillator and send details of its location via Twitter to @WelshAmbPIH using the hashtag #Defibuary.

A patient’s chance of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest decreases by an estimated 10 per cent with every passing minute without intervention, such as CPR and defibrillation.

During last year’s campaign, a total of 307 pictures were submitted and 102 new locations were identified across Wales.

Dr Brendan Lloyd, medical director for the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: “When someone goes into cardiac arrest, early defibrillation is a crucial part of the chain of survival."

He added: “During Defibuary we’re encouraging everyone to familiarise themselves with where they can find the closest piece of lifesaving equipment available to them. Hopefully you will never need to use it, but it really could make all the difference.”

To find out the location of your nearest defibrillator, visit http://bit.ly/DefibLocations

If you are interested in setting up a new Public Access Defibrillator site, call 07734 716766 or email [email protected]

See this week’s north papers for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition on Thursday