Heartstart Malvern chairman concerned by latest CPR statistics
More than four in 10 people apparently do not know how to perform CPR
Data released by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) which estimates that more than four in 10 people do not know how to do CPR has been branded 'worrying' by the chairman of a CPR training charity.
Heartstart Malvern was launched in 2017, and have recently reached a major milestone of teaching their 5,000 person on how to carry out the potentially life saving exercise.
The charity has also set-up 33 defibrillators across the area itself, with aims to make that 50 in total by their 10-year anniversary in 2027.
Chairman Richard Vakis-Lowe says that he isn't surprised by the numbers, but is concerned not enough has been done to raise it.
He said: "The worrying thing is it's probably been at round about four or five percent now for the last 40 to 50 years.
"Although we know it's really important for everybody to learn CPR and how to save a life, there isn't enough people coming forward for training.
"You don't know when someone could suffer a cardiac arrest or anything like that, so it just shows how important it is that these key skills are delivered to as many people as possible."
According to the BHF, more than 30,000 cardiac arrests each year in the UK take place outside a hospital setting.
A survey by Censuswide of 2,002 people over the age of 16 found 43% had never learned how to do it, which the BHF estimates equates to 23 million people.
It was also identified in the poll however that people aged 16-26 were more likely to be better trained on how to save a life compared to older generations.
Richard and the charity deliver courses into schools, and he believes teaching such skills as early as possible will help them retain it for the rest of their lives.
"We realise that it's really important to actually train younger people, and that's why I think every child who is at school should be taught some form of guidance on it," Richard said.
"It is in the school curriculum, but what we've also got to remember is the majority of cardiac arrests will actually happen in older people and 80% of these collapses happen at home.
"If you collapse from a cardiac arrest, the most important person is the person standing next to you, because if you don't get treatment within three minutes your chances of survival are almost non-existent."
Through heart month this February, the BHF are encouraging the public to use its RevivR online tool, which teaches people how to recognise signs of cardiac arrest, do chest compressions correctly, and use a defibrillator within 15 minutes.
At Heartstart Malvern they are also urging more people to get on board and sign up to courses.