Jubilee Hall Trust (JHT) has signed an agreement with Butler Safe Technologies (BST) to install Defibrillators(AEDs) at their gyms in Covent Garden Hampstead and Southwark.

This means that all four clubs in the group will now have them installed, as the Westminster Gym has had one for some time.

JHT Chief Executive, Phil Rumbelow, said: 'Recent studies by the British Heart Foundation identified that, every year, around 10,000 people suffer a heart attack within the Greater London region, with 70 per cent of these heart attacks occurring outside of a hospital environment. In a case of cardiac arrest caused by ventricular fibrillation, defibrillation must ideally be carried out within approximately 4 minutes of the attack.

"With current ambulance response times running at 8 minutes, having AEDs on site at our gyms, will significantly improve the survival chances of anyone affected.'

The AEDs installed at the gyms have DOC technology which means that they regularly check their own batteries and, once taken off the wall, they automatically call 999 (using GPS to give location) as well as contacting a 24-hour medical helpline to talk the user through the employment of the AED. The contract includes full staff training and refresher training, but the units are designed to be used by someone without any formal training at all.