The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service has mapped the location of every public access Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) in Northern Ireland.

The AED mapping application has been developed to be user friendly and with a number of features including filtering capabilities for Health and Social Care Trusts/council areas, specific address search function and nearest available AED location.

The application is to support members of the public and organisations of the placement of publicly located AEDs in local areas but, the Ambulance Service stresses, should not be used in the case of an emergency.

In the case of an emergency, you should always phone 999.

A spokeswoman for the NIAS said: "Wherever you live, wherever you work, simply knowing the location and postcode of your nearest AED may save valuable seconds when ringing the Emergency Services to report a suspected cardiac arrest.

"When you dial 999, the Emergency Medical Dispatcher will ask a series of questions and should your casualty require it, and CPR is in progress, you will be advised of the nearest available defibrillator to you, and give you access details to the AED, if held and available.

"This information will be provided if you are within 400 meters of a defibrillator that is registered with NIAS, and which is available for public access at the time (some AEDs are located in buildings that will not be available for public access on a 24/7 basis) and if an additional person is available to access it.

"The most important element in a cardiac arrest is to ensure effective chest compressions are carried out.

"Saving seconds can save lives."

If you are responsible for an AED that has not be registered with NIAS, you can do this at: http://www.nias.hscni.net/our-services/aed

If you have any questions about purchasing an AED or any queries over your existing AED, please contact the Community Resuscitation Team on community.resus@nias.hscni.net

To view the full map visit here.

Belfast Telegraph