Barratt Developments is donating defibrillators, usually used on its construction sites, to St John Ambulance.
Among the contributions are 11 defibrillators from Watford-based Barratt and David Wilson Homes North Thames, which have been distributed to the health and first aid charity.
St John Ambulance is helping to take the strain from the NHS and has started a nationwide appeal – called Take the Strain – to source desperately needed equipment to help it in the vital role it is playing, including 1,000 defibrillators.
Responding to the call for help, the country’s biggest housebuilder has committed to donating the defibrillators from all its sites – an estimated 400 worth more than £300,000. Teams from Barratt are urgently gathering up the defibrillators from their sites across the country so they can get them to where they are needed in the next few days.
As part of its response to support the fight against coronavirus, Barratt Developments has also donated £100,000 to the NHS Charities Together appeal. NHS Charities Together supports 250 NHS charities across the UK collectively, giving money every day to the NHS so that people can stay well for longer and get better faster. It also plays a key role in mobilising volunteers to support NHS staff and support mental health, community health and ambulance trusts.
These moves follow an earlier initiative last week from the housebuilder to donate personal protective items, including thousands of high quality FFP3 face masks, gloves and hand sanitiser, to local NHS hospitals and social care services across the country.
David Thomas, chief executive of Barratt Developments, said: “We are pleased to be able to donate this equipment where it is urgently needed – to help St John Ambulance, who are on the frontline, supporting the NHS and helping to save lives. We are seeing an amazing collective effort by businesses, communities and individuals in the fight against coronavirus and we want to play our part in that.”
Barratt Developments took the decision to temporarily close all of its offices and construction sites recently in order to protect customers, employees and the public.
