CENTRAL Dunfermline Community Council is urging businesses to help them find out exactly where defibrillators are located around the city centre.

The organisation wants to build up an accurate picture of where – and when – the lifesaving pieces of kit are available, to raise awareness in the hope it could help someone in an emergency.

Secretary Fiona Simpson believes a co-ordinated approach could be helpful.

"It is pretty scary that we have no idea where the defibrillators are in the town centre, what kind of coverage we have and who has been trained to operate them," she said.

"We have been talking about this at community council for some time now and it would be good to put together a strategy.

"It would be good to have posters which shops and businesses could display in their windows which indicate that they do have one. If someone suffered a cardiac arrest in the high street during the day or evening, would passers-by or companions know where to go to find a defibrillator? With ambulance response times being unpredictable these days, this is even more of a crucial issue.

"We would want to look at coverage throughout the day and in the evenings."

Fiona said they were hoping places with defibrillators will contact them as part of the initiative.

"We want to raise awareness of it and build up an accurate picture of just where they are around Dunfermline. Once you start thinking about it, you realise how important an issue this is."

Back in 2015, the Press launched its Take Heart campaign asking that public access defibrillators were bought and placed in the town – for anyone to access at any time in case the very worst happens.

Defibrillators can deliver the electric shock to the heart that can make the difference between life and death and keep you alive – every second counts and, at that, time, there were around 20 of the devices in and around the town, however, some were behind locked doors and unavailable during non-working hours.

A year later, thanks to funding from the Rotary Club of Dunfermline, the Mary Leishman Foundation and Fife Council’s Common Good Fund, three more devices were purchased, available 24/7 at the Kingsgate Shopping Centre, the Guildhall and Linen Exchange on High Street and the City Hotel in Bridge Street.

Central Dunfermline Community Council is asking anyone who can help them by providing details of their defibrillator to contact them via email on cdunfcc@hotmail.com.

Or, contact the Press at editorial@dunfermlinepress.co.uk