Ten new life-saving machines are set to be installed in West Cumbria.

North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), Cumbria County Council and the Community Heart Beat Trust have teamed up to provide the automated external defibrillators, which will be accessible to the public, across Allerdale.

A £17,400 grant has been presented to the North West Ambulance Charity from the council's Allerdale local committee. which will be spent on defibs to be placed in prominent locations around the borough.

They are small machines which can be used by anyone in the community to help in an emergency if someone suffers a cardiac arrest.

The AEDs shock a person’s heart into restarting.

They are easy to use as they talk through the process and they will not deliver a shock unless it is required.

No clinical training is needed to be able to use them.

With help from the Community Heart Beat Trust, several of the AEDs will be installed in newly refurbished phone boxes.

Conversion of the phone boxes is part of a national scheme helping local communities to install defibrillators in adopted phone boxes across the UK, storing them in well recognised, safe, weather proof locations.

Lauren Watson, chain of life co-ordinator for NWAS, said: “Early defibrillation gives patients in cardiac arrest the best possible chance of survival which is why it’s so important that community access defibrillators are available in as many places as possible.

“The chance of survival for a person in cardiac arrest is reduced by 20 per cent for every minute without CPR and defibrillation”.

“Residents in Allerdale will now benefit by having round the clock access to lifesaving equipment if someone suddenly suffers a cardiac arrest.”

Councillor Tony Markley, chair of Allerdale local committee, added: “Cumbria County Council is delighted to support North West Ambulance Service with a grant to purchase these important life-saving machines.

“The installation of the defibrillators will benefit our local communities who have been campaigning for some time for more machines in rural areas.”

Martin Fagan, national secretary from the Community Heart Beat Trust, said: “It’s satisfying to be involved in such an important project, bringing redundant phone boxes back to life so that they can be put to good use, potentially saving someone’s life in the future.”