Rallying call for more people to learn CPR

A LEADING heart charity wants more people to learn CPR after worrying statistics revealed the vast majority of people would be reluctant to use the life-saving technique.

Research found 87 per cent of people in the East Midlands would not try to help in the event of someone collapsing in cardiac arrest in front of them.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) warns a lack of public knowledge of CPR could be cost- ing lives.

New research from the University of Warwick also found those who have been trained in CPR are three times more likely to perform it.

The main reasons for reluctance to step in were fear of causing more harm than good (46 per cent) and lacking the skills and knowledge to perform CPR (35 per cent).

But experts say the benefits of performing CPR far outweigh the risks, as survival rates are almost zero if people collapse and get no support until paramedics arrive.

Every minute without CPR or defibrillation can reduce a person’s chance of surviving a cardiac arrest by around 10 per cent.

Worryingly just 19 per cent of people were able to identify the two signs of a cardiac arrest - when someone is not breathing or not breathing normally and they’ve collapsed and are unresponsive.

The BHF, Resuscitation Council (UK), St John Ambulance, British Red Cross, East Midlands Ambulance Service and all the UK NHS ambulance services along with fire and rescue services are working together on a campaign to train more than 150,000 young people across the UK in the largest ever CPR training event of its kind.

Secondary schools across Hinckley and Bosworth are urged to take advantage and apply for free training kits. Visit bhf.org.uk/ cpr for more information.