Heartstart

Emergency Life Support Training

Would you know what to do in a life-threatening emergency?

Learning emergency life support skills (ELS) can help you to keep someone alive until professional help arrives. The BHF can help you to learn these skills through the Heartstart  initiative.

The Heartstart programme includes skills such as:

• assessing an unconcious patient,
• performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR),
• dealing with choking,
• serious bleeding 
• helping someone that maybe having a heart attack.

Over 2.3 million people have been trained through the Heartstart initiative.

Heartstart is an initiative co-ordinated by the BHF to teach you the simple skills needed in a life-threatening emergency and could help you to save the life of someone you love.The scheme offers you practical advice and encourages you to talk about resuscitation and saving lives. 

Knowing what to do when someone has a cardiac arrest is important. If you can do CPRyou can buy the time needed for professional help to arrive and save the life of your loved one. Being able to do CPR more than doubles the chances of survival.

Through Heartstart the BHF aims to make training more widely available and increase the number of people in your community that are able to help save a life.

Heartstart in the community

Our Heartstart courses:

• last for two hours
• provide you with very practical hands on learning
• are free.

Heartstart community schemes are groups that provide the training for the public. The initiative works in partnership with organisations such as local volunteer groups, the ambulance service and other organisations to establish local community schemes.

Many of these schemes run Heartstart courses that are open to the public. Others teach specific groups like employees and heart patients. The course lasts for two hours and provides very practical ‘hands-on’ learning.

Heartstart  in schools

Young people of ten years and over can attend a Heartstart course. Young people of 10 years and over can attendthe course.However, some ELS skills like making a 999 call or placing someone in the recovery position can be learnt by much younger children.

The course can be delivered in two ways:

• as a stand alone course for children of 10 and over
• as a staged programme starting with children 4 or 5 years of age.

Are you interested in attending a course?

You can find details of schemes offering free ELS training by searching on our
In Your Area section.

Are you interested in becoming involved in a scheme?

To find out information about becoming involved with a scheme in your area, or establishing a scheme, contact either:

Our London office:
Tel: 0300 330 3311 Heart Helpline (local rate number)
e-mail: hearthelpline.bhf.org.uk

Our Edinburgh office:
Tel: 0131 554 6953
e-mail: heartstart-edin@bhf.org.uk