CAMPAIGNERS are calling for life-saving equipment to be installed in phone boxes to improve heart attack survival rates in Redbridge.

London Assembly Member Keith Prince is calling on Mayor Sadiq Khan to provide funding for life-saving defibrillators to be installed in phone boxes across the borough as part of a wider campaign called Never Miss A Beat.

The report by the GLA Conservatives claims that of the 224 people who had a cardiac arrest in Redbridge last year, only around nine per cent of them survived.

It calls on the Mayor to encourage boroughs like Redbridge to take up the Adopt a Kiosk scheme set up by the Community Heartbeat Trust and BT.

The scheme allows communities to buy their nearest phone box for £1 so a defibrillator can be installed inside.

If someone thinks they are having a cardiac arrest, they can ring 999 from inside the phone box to get a pin code that will unlock the defibrillator for use.

The £1,000 machine will only deliver a shock to the patient if it can detect a heartrate, in the hope people will not misuse them after one was stolen from Woodford Underground Station in April.

Assembly member for Havering and Redbridge Cllr Keith Prince said: “There is no question we should be making these life-saving devices as widely available as possible and where better to put them than highly-visible and easily-accessible phone boxes?

“The Adopt a Kiosk scheme is a fantastic way of getting more defibrillators into our communities.

“This simple idea has the potential to save lives in Redbridge and across the capital and I will be urging the Mayor to adopt the recommendations in the report.”

The report shows that out of 10,211 people who suffered from a cardiac arrest in London last year, only 73 were treated with a defibrillator.

It also claims that having one nearby could increase survival rates to 58 per cent.

Chairman of the Community Heartbeat Trust Martin Render added: “It is so important we get more easily accessible defibrillators into the community and better educate people in CPR techniques.

“If we can teach more people to recognise what has happened, summon the ambulance service and perform basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation many SCA victims can be saved.”

A spokesman for Sadiq Khan said: “The safety of Londoners is the Mayor’s number one priority and he is working with all partners, including the London Ambulance Service, to discuss how he can best support this aim."