Fear of causing harm preventing couples from giving CPR

The fear of hurting a loved one could prevent people from giving CPR, according to new figures from the British Heart Foundation.

Eight in ten cardiac arrests happen in the home - and the BHF has revealed that around half of people living with a partner say the fear of causing harm would deter them from providing the potential life-saving procedure.

The survey - commissioned by the charity to mark Heart Month - also shows that four in ten people living with a partner don't have the confidence to perform CPR if a loved one had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Ray from Huyton had an experience where he had to give CPR.

He said:

"I tried a long time ago when someone had a heart attack - I started pumping his heart until the ambulance came, but he died a couple of hours later.

"I didn't know if I was doing it right, but I was just pressing all the time with both hands. I kept going until the ambulance came.

"Everyone should learn (CPR) because it could help someone sometime, if something happens."

The British Heart Foundation says in the North West:

• Around 940,000 people are living with heart and circulatory diseases and around 280,000 are living with coronary heart disease.
• There are around 170,000 stroke survivors in the North West
• Heart and circulatory diseases cause 1,700 deaths every month in the North West
• Around 72,000 people have a gene variant that can cause an inherited heart-related condition in the North West
• There are around 3,900 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests each year in the North West and only one in ten people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Ruth Goss, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said:

"It sounds daunting and we know that people may be feeling that they're doing more harm than good - am I hurting them, am I breaking their ribs?

"It's better to have a sore chest or broken ribs and live"

"Without the CPR, they won't survive, so that's why we're trying to empower people... it's better to have a sore chest or broken ribs and live than the other outcome.

"We really want to hep people feel strong enough and brave enough to take that chance, do this training and you could help save a live."

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