Anne Marie Morris writes for PoliticsHome...
I am absolutely delighted to have the chance to put the case for every child leaving school knowing how to save a life, writes Anne Marie Morris MP.
The way this can be achieved is by teaching what is known as ELS skills. ELS stands for Emergency Life Support. It is a set of basic medical actions that can keep someone alive until professional help arrives. ELS encompasses the performing of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), putting an unconscious person in the recovery position, dealing with choking, serious bleeding and helping someone who may be having a heart attack.
The importance of understanding ELS when somebody is having a cardiac arrest cannot be underestimated. 60,000 people each year in the UK have cardiac arrests outside of hospital. Around two thirds of these cardiac arrests happen in the home and half of those which take place in public are witnessed by bystanders. If CPR is performed immediately following a cardiac arrest then it can buy time for the Emergency Medical Services and triple the chances of somebody surviving.
Unfortunately, knowledge of ELS in our country is not high. The British Heart Foundation says that about 75% of people in the UK are not trained in CPR. This compares very unfavourably to the 80% of people from Scandinavian countries that are. Just as worrying however is the fact that only 1 in 13 people feel confident that they could carry out emergency first aid. I wonder how many people reading this piece would know what to do and would have confidence in their ability to perform basic life saving skills if push came to shove.
The British Heart Foundation has joined forces with a number of organisations, including St John Ambulance, Resuscitation Council UK and The British Medical Association, to call for ELS to be taught in all secondary schools. This is so that we can train a future generation of life savers who know how to perform ELS and who have the confidence to do so if required. Recent polling indicates 70% of parents, 78% of secondary school pupils and 86% of teachers would like to see ELS taught in secondary schools. The recent British Heart Foundation petition on the subject has so far attracted more than 130,000 signatures. Parents want it, pupils want it and the public wants it. That’s why I’m calling for it in my debate on Thursday.
Response: Maura Gillespie, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the British Heart Foundation (BHF)
Teaching young people how to save a life is as important as learning to read and write. They are skills which equip them for real situations they might face in their lives.
This is about giving students the skills that make a difference in an emergency. ELS skills take just two hours to learn. Two hours, repeated each year until they leave school, to equip every young person with the gift of knowing how to save a life.
Response: Joe Mulligan, Head of First Aid Education, British Red Cross
The British Red Cross believes that first aid, including ELS, is an important life skill that everybody should know. As young people move towards independence in their own lives and take on responsibilities they should know how to help others, whether it is a family member, friend or fellow citizen.
It's vital that first aid has a firm place within the national curriculum and we are delighted that this issue is being debated in Parliament.