Restart a heart and save a life this October

October 22, 2021

In the UK, there are approximately 66,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests each year and cardiac arrests haven’t stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, early data shows they have increased, meaning learning CPR is more important than ever.

Around 1 in 10 of these patients survive and about three quarters of these cardiac arrests happen at home. If someone you are with has a cardiac arrest, would you know what to do?

Every October, hundreds of thousands of people across the UK, and many more worldwide, learn CPR as part of the national ‘Restart a Heart’ campaign spearheaded by the Resuscitation council and this year is no different.

Across our Trust, resuscitation forms part of the basic life support training that all clinical colleagues undertake and are assessed on. This includes a mix of theory as well as much needed hands on experience that forms part of the assessment.

Sharing her thoughts on the ‘Restart a heart day’ Senior Sister in the deteriorating patients and resuscitation team Dawn Martin said, “It’s incredibly important for colleagues in both clinical and non clinical roles to understand the basic life support and resuscitation techniques. We have a really robust means to roll out training to our clinical teams through our ‘Basic Life Support Assessors’ who support us to roll out training to every corner of our Trust, but the statistics are clear – most cardiac arrests will occur in the most unexpected circumstances, so it’s important for colleagues to ensure they are fully trained.

“We have over 200 BLS assessors who support colleagues across our Trust to brush up on their BLS training, complete their assessment and to provide support in understanding changes to the clinical guidelines.

“COVID-19 proved to be quite challenging, when it came to resuscitation, with contradicting advice flowing from unreliable sources making it difficult for people to understand what their roles in resuscitation is, it’s important that colleagues take the time to complete their training, understand what is being asked of them, what their role is and most importantly discuss any questions, queries or concerns they have.

“But to be clear, even with COVID, chest compression only CPR and early defibrillation can still be carried out, and in hospital level 3 PPE is required, when dealing with additional aerosol generating procedures when managing airways.”

For more information on completing basic life support training or to get involved with Restart a Heart Day, please contact swbh.resuscitationtraining@nhs.net.