Did you know that the government has revealed plans to add CPR to the national school curriculum in England?
The draft proposal sees first aid and CPR being added to the curriculum as part of wider Health Education Classes in England from 2020.
With out of hospital cardiac arrest survival rates being up to three times higher in countries where first aid is taught in schools compared to the UK, this landmark move could save thousands of lives each year.
The announcement follows years of tireless campaigning to get first aid and CPR onto the curriculum. A key player in which has been Qualsafe’s Medical Director, Dr. Andrew Lockey, Hon. Secretary to the Resuscitation Council (UK), as well as the British Heart Foundation, St John Ambulance and British Red Cross.
The draft legislation, which was published on 19th July 2018, proposes that teachers talk about the steps that pupils can take to protect and support their own and other’s health and wellbeing, including learning basic first aid. A public consultation on this has now been published, which allows members of the public to comment on the draft legislation. The consultation asks for individual views on the proposed legislation and statutory guidance, as well as whether or not it provides sufficient information and support to schools in teaching the subject. To show your support and to respond to the government’s consultation, simply click here. The full draft legislation can be found here.
After years of campaigning for CPR and basic first aid to be taught in schools, here at Qualsafe, we are thrilled to see this now take a step closer to becoming reality. Paramedic and author of the UK’s No.1 range of first aid training books, Nigel Barraclough had the following to say:
“Norway has been teaching CPR in schools for many years and the increase in bystander CPR is the main reason that they have survival rates as high as 25% compared to the UK’s 10%. We would really encourage supporters to respond to the government consultation.”
