Rochdale MP leads calls for First Aid training in schools

Liz McInnes, Member of Parliament for Heywood and Middleton, has written to the Prime Minister to ask the government to think again about making first aid education compulsory in schools.

Liz wrote to the Prime Minister last Friday in the wake of the terrorist attack on parliament which saw many members of the public including the MP Tobias Ellwood rush to help those injured.

Evidence from the British Red Cross suggests that if just CPR was taught in secondary schools around 5000 lives a year could be saved.

Liz McInnes MP says: ‘Alongside our superb emergency services, the response of those members of the public who ran to help the injured in London last Wednesday was inspiring and they deserve our deep thanks and admiration. It brought home to me the importance of basic first aid training and the difference it can make in emergency situations.

First aid knowledge can make a difference every day, not just in response to incredibly rare events like last Wednesday. Evidence from the British Red Cross shows that up to 59% of prehospital deaths from injury could have been prevented with basic first aid, and of the more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK every year less than 1 in 10 people survive. If we could match survival rates found in parts of Norway where CPR is routinely taught in secondary schools, we could save an additional 5,000 lives per year.

Campaigners are asking for just one hour a year to be given to first aid education. Last Thursday I asked the Leader of the House if we might revisit the debate but sadly he rejected the idea out of hand, so on Friday I wrote to the Prime Minister to ask her to consider the evidence. It is surely time for the government to think again.’

Liz’s letter to the Prime Minister:

• Liz McInnes
• Rochdale