A HAMPSHIRE council is installing a network of life saving devices.

Eastleigh Borough Council has purchased announced its purchase of five defibrillators which, as previously reported, will sit at key locations in the borough at a cost of £8,000.

They will be placed at Itchen Valley Country Park, in West End, Eastleigh’s Lakeside Country Park and Eastleigh House, available 24 hours a day, and the Berry Theatre and The Depot, both in Hedge End, during operational hours.

Defibrillators provide a ‘shock’ to the heart in the event of cardiac arrest and will be housed in bright yellow cabinets. First aid staff at each of the sites will be trained to use them.

The council said Itchen Valley and Lakeside Country Parks were chosen because they were more remote open spaces that attract large numbers of visitors, as does the Berry Theatre.

It said the Depot carries out a number of higher risk activities, with specialist machinery and workshops and Eastleigh House has a high level of visitors and staff that work outside normal hours, as well as being a key location for the town centre, being close to the bus station.

This comes as the Daily Echo continues its campaign to get more defibrillators in schools following after Mountbatten School pupil Sam Mangoro was saved with one when he suffered a heart attack.

Cabinet Lead for Health and Community Safety Cllr Tonia Craig said medical research from the Resuscitation Council revealed that after cardiac arrest every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces someone chances of survival by 10 per cent.

“By siting them at these locations we are increasing the chances of people residents or visitors to the borough surviving a cardiac arrest,”she added.