MSP calls for end to ‘postcode lottery’

Pressure is mounting on the Scottish Government to adopt first aid as a compulsory component of the curriculum.

Local MSP Bill Bowman called on ministers to take action as he backed The Courier’s first aid campaign.

Under the proposals, every school pupil in Scotland would learn emergency lifesaving skills from external organisations such as Heartstart Discovery or Safe Taysiders.

Figures released through the Scottish Government’s Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) report suggest one in 10 people are likely to survive an attack if a bystander is able to perform CPR.

This figure has risen from one in 20 in 2015.

Supporters say this is partly thanks to efforts by groups such as Save a Life Scotland and the British Heart Foundation to teach first aid to school pupils in Scotland.

The current Curriculum for Excellence does not make first aid compulsory and it is left up to individual schools to decide whether training is needed.

Mr Bowman, Conservative MSP for the North East region, said the Scottish Government needed to go further.

He said: “The Courier is right to highlight the benefits of teaching lifesaving skills to our school pupils.

“There is a postcode lottery at the moment depending on which council area a young person lives in.

“In England, pupils are now learning these skills in the curriculum.

“This is something Scotland should be doing as a matter of course,” he said.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are working with St Andrew’s First Aid to explore ways in which first aid education could be offered in schools.

“We recognise the importance and value of first aid learning in schools and would encourage everyone to learn lifesaving skills regardless of their age through the health and wellbeing element of the curriculum.

“We do not take a prescriptive approach to the curriculum.

“Individual schools and local authorities are best placed to decide on the content of their lessons and the external partnerships they build to help them deliver relevant and engaging learning.”