Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making it a mandatory requirement for defibrillators to be fitted in patient transport vehicles.

Many non-emergency patient transport service (NEPTS) ambulances operated by National Health Service trusts already carry a defibrillator.

However, the contractual requirements for the provision of NEPTS services are determined by each integrated care board (ICB), based on their assessment of the needs of the local population. Therefore, each ICB can determine whether they wish to specify the carrying of a defibrillator on non-emergency ambulances as a contractual requirement, along with the cost and crew training implications.

Patients undergo regular assessment for patient transport service (PTS) journeys. If significant clinical issues are identified as part of that assessment, then the PTS provider could allocate additional measures for that patient. This might include having particular equipment, including a defibrillator, on board, and/or having crews with a higher training level.