One in three 'cannot lifesave'

Heart massage isn't just a job for the paramedics

Almost 40% of people would not be able to carry out lifesaving techniques on someone who had suffered a heart attack, according to a survey.

One in ten would simply sit and wait for the emergency services to arrive.

The statistics were compiled by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), who want more people to learn basic resuscitation skills.

Giving CPR to someone in cardiac arrest, doubles their chances of survival

Adrian Clark, Heartstart UK

More than 80,000 heart attack victims each year die before they reach hospital.

The BHF believes this could be dramatically reduced if more patients received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) early.

It estimates that only 1% of UK people are skilled in CPR.

The survey revealed that while many wanted to stop and help, more than half are not confident enough to carry out CPR, and one three were frightened of doing the wrong thing.

Training for CPR can take as little as two hours.

Figures from the government's National Service Framework for heart disease say that only between 2% and 3% of people who have heart attacks outside hospitals survive.

Saving more lives

In the USA and Norway, a greater awareness of CPR has helped raise this to as much as 30%.

Adrian Clark, National Co-ordinator for Heartstart UK, the BHF's campaign, said: "Sadly, I am not surprised by the findings of this survey.

"There are simply not enough people in Britain trained in emergency lifesaving, and that means that many people could be dying each year because no-one was able to keep them alive before the experts arrived.

"It's really encouraging that we do seem to have a nation of 'good Samaritans', and that if people were trained, they would try to keep the patient alive.

"Giving CPR to someone in cardiac arrest, doubles their chances of survival."

Heartstart UK's courses are free and are available throughout Britain in many schools, and in the community.

For more information about training, called the BHF campaign line on 0870 9090111.