CPR training could be coming to secondaries

The council’s SNP group have launched a bid to make CPR training part of secondary education in North Lanarkshire.

The motion, which will be put forward by councillors Mark John Kerr and Cameron McManus, calls on the local authority to work with the British Heart Foundation Scotland to expand on current smaller scale programmes and make sure all current pupils are CPR trained by 2020 and ongoing as part of the school curriculum.

At the launch of the plans, Councillor Kerr said: “This type of life-saving skill is critical to surviving a cardiac arrest.

“Every minute without CPR reduces the survival rate by 10 per cent. If we roll out this training we are safeguarding our future.

“Imagine a whole generation trained, willing and confident enough to step forward and help save a life. Simply put – we are creating a nation of lifesavers.”

Currently only nine out of 23 secondary schools in the council area are actively providing training in CPR and the SNP group believe that this should be available to every pupil in every part of North Lanarkshire.

Daniel Jones, policy and public affairs officer at BHF Scotland, said: “We are delighted that councillors Kerr and McManus are taking forward this lifesaving measure which could see young people in North Lanarkshire equipped with the skills to step in and carry out vital CPR in the critical moments following a collapse from an Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest.

“At the moment in Scotland, for every 12 people who have an Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest, unfortunately only one survives.

“And we know, through international evidence from Denmark and Norway, that training all of our secondary pupils in CPR has the potential to triple this survival rate.

“If North Lanarkshire Council passes this important motion, it would mean that many lives which are lost to Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrests every year in the area could be saved.

“BHF Scotland hopes that North Lanarkshire Council will be encouraged to back this lifesaving motion.

“This would ensure that the council joins our nation of lifesavers, which has already seen councils including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee pledge to train all of their pupils in vital CPR.”