FIFE MSP Alex Rowley has congratulated the success of Crossgates and Mossgreen Community Council for making a concerted effort over the past year to secure funding and install five new defibrillators for the local community (also see page 7).

Defibrillators are life-saving machines that gives the heart an electric shock in some cases of cardiac arrest.

Over 3,500 people in Scotland each year are treated by the Ambulance Service for an out of hospital cardiac arrest but only 1 in 12 survive.

For every minute that passes without defibrillation chances of survival decrease by 10 per cent with research showing that applying a controlled shock within five minutes of collapse provides the best possible chances of survival.

The MSP has raised a motion in the Scottish Parliament to recognise the success and commented: “This is fantastic work by the community council, and their efforts are not only great for the local community they also have the potential to save lives.

“I am very pleased that the community now have access to these life-saving machines, and hope they can do more to increase the survival rates from cardiac arrest which are shockingly low in Scotland.

“Well done to everyone involved in getting these defibrillators installed, and I hope the community council carry on with the brilliant work they do to make our community a better and safer place to live in.

“This Community Council now has the knowledge and expertise that can be shared across Fife and hopefully we will see more defibrillators in every community.”

The motion states: 'That the Parliament congratulates Crossgates and Mossgreen Community Council in Fife on making a concerted effort in the last year to install defibrillators in the local community; commends the group for successfully managing to secure funding for five defibrillators at a cost of almost £13,000; recognises that four out of five of the planned defibrillators have been accepted by the NHS and the Scottish Ambulance Service and have been installed at locations across Crossgates and Mossgreen, including the Coaledge Tavern, Lodge St John 540, Mossgreen Service Station and MRS Training and Rescue, with the last defibrillator still awaiting paperwork to be completed before being installed at Crossgates Primary School and Nursery; understands that a defibrillator is a life-saving machine that gives the heart an electric shock in some cases of cardiac arrest; appreciates that for every minute that passes without defibrillation, the chances of survival decrease by 10%, with research showing that applying a controlled shock within five minutes of collapse provides the best possible chances of survival, and further praises the work of the community council on its success, which it considers has the potential to save lives in the local community'.