Calls for learner drivers to take another test before getting their licence – to help save lives
NEW drivers should have to learn CPR to get their licence, say campaigners.
Resuscitation Council UK said mandating training on chest compressions and defibrillators would boost Britain’s cardiac arrest survival rate.
Currently, three quarters of people whose heart stops out of hospital do not have it beating again by the time they arrive at A&E.
Nine out 10 patients die within a month.
The charity says every second is vital and better public awareness of CPR will buy patients precious time.
Ambulances tried to resuscitate 35,000 people last year.
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Increasing CPR knowledge gives people everywhere a chance of surviving cardiac arrest
James Cant
More than a dozen other countries, including Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic require drivers to do first aid training before they are let loose on the roads.
James Cant, chief of RCUK, said: “Evidence shows that increasing CPR knowledge and training in the community is an effective way to give people everywhere an equal chance of surviving a cardiac arrest.”
Cardiac arrest is when the heart completely stops pumping – different to a heart attack, where blood supply is only partly blocked.
It is much more deadly and can kill within minutes unless the heart is restarted.
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A report to be presented to Parliament today shows that people working manual jobs, living in poor areas or who are not white are less likely to know CPR and to survive a cardiac arrest.
The Resuscitation Council says people must also be taught about community defibrillators, which are dotted around 88,000 public places in the UK.
They can double survival rates and may be used by anyone in an emergency as they talk you through the steps.
Only half of poor areas have them compared to two thirds of richer neighbourhoods, the report said.
Mr Cant added: “A lack of public awareness that anyone can use a defibrillator, as well as not knowing where these devices are, is a major obstacle to increasing survival chances.
“We must ensure everyone, everywhere has bystander CPR training that is tailored to their needs and they understand that a defibrillator is there for them to use.”
HOW TO DO CPR
LEARNING CPR could save someone's life if their heart stops in public, as survival chances plummet in the minutes it takes for an ambulance to arrive.
The British Heart Foundation has free online CPR training.
Here are six key steps to performing CPR on an adult:
- Shake and shout: Check the area for any immediate risks and then shake and shout at the unconscious person to try to wake them.
- Check breathing: Check whether the patient is breathing by watching their chest for movement, listening and placing your cheek by their nose and mouth to feel for air. If they are breathing, put them in the recovery position.
- Call 999: Call an ambulance if they have collapsed, whether they are breathing or not. If there is another bystander, ask them to phone while you start CPR.
- Chest compressions: Kneel beside the person, place the heel of your hand on the bone in the centre of their chest and place your other hand beside it and interlock your fingers. Push your bodyweight through your hands to pump their chest hard, trying to compress it by 5cm to 6cm each time. Do it twice every second, 30 times in a row.
- Rescue breaths: After 30 chest compressions, pinch the person's nose, put your mouth over theirs and blow air into their lungs. Do this twice.
- Repeat: Do another 30 chest compressions followed by another two breaths. Keep repeating until paramedics arrive.
Source: NHS