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GLENDA'S STORY

Writer's picture: Heart Restart TaxHeart Restart Tax

Updated: Oct 30, 2023

This story first appeared in the Daily Mirror on the 10th of October: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/woman-raises-funds-buy-defibrillator-30827412


When 82-year-old Glenda Winter began fundraising to have a defibrillator installed in her sheltered living block, she had a clear goal in mind: with approximately £1,200, she would be able to purchase a defibrillator which should have been in place when one of her neighbours died just a year earlier from a cardiac arrest.

Daily Mirror - Chris Watt Photography

Yet despite a successful fundraising effort, Glenda was unexpectedly hit with an extra £240 for the purchase. This is because the full 20% VAT is currently charged on all defibrillator sales that do not go towards the NHS, specific medical charities, and some large businesses that can apply for relief. Small businesses, community groups, and individuals like Glenda are, as a result, faced with an additional charge of up to £500 for these devices that can cost between £800-£2,500.


Initiatives such as Glenda’s are the crucial last mile to having defibrillators installed in the key strategic locations where they are likely to be needed the most. It is thanks to individuals, small businesses, and local community groups, that these crucial life saving devices will become widely available and accessible to all within the vital first few minutes of an arrest during which the likelihood of survival, and the resulting quality of life, is determined.


That is why the BHTA is calling for VAT to be scrapped on defibrillator sales. The current survival rate for cardiac arrests occurring outside of hospital is just 8%. Defibrillators are the key to improving this desperately low number, but only if they are made available as widely as possible, to ensure that anyone in need is able to access one in the crucial first few minutes of a cardiac arrest. The key to making this happen is to help the organisations at the heart of our communities afford to have them installed.


Daily Mirror - Chris Watt Photography

Thanks to people like Glenda, we are slowly increasing the numbers of defibrillators in the UK. But we must do more make defibrillators as affordable as possible to widen access and save more lives.

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The British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA) brings healthcare and assistive technology companies together to improve industry and consumer standards. 

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