Heartstart UK
Emergency Life
Support Training
Would you know what to do in a life-threatening emergency?
The skills of emergency life support
(ELS) are simple and can save lives.
ELS is the set of actions needed to
keep someone alive until professional help arrives.
They include performing
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), dealing with choking, serious
bleeding and helping someone that may be having a heart attack.
Over 1.4 million people
have been trained through the Heartstart UK
initiative.
Heartstart UK is an
initiative co-ordinated by the BHF to teach
members of the public what to do in a life-threatening emergency:
simple skills that can save lives.
It provides opportunities for people
to learn the vital skills of ELS. Through Heartstart UK the BHF
aims to strengthen the chain of survival by promoting and
supporting ELS training in the community.
We offer practical advice,
whilst encouraging discussion on improving resuscitation knowledge
and practice.
The benefit of CPR performed by a bystander in an
out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is significant.
The most important factor determining survival after a cardiac
arrest is the time from collapse of the casualty to defibrillation
- performing CPR buys time and more than doubles the
chances of survival. Through Heartstart UK the BHF aims to
make training more widely available.
Affiliation to Heartstart UK
Affiliation
is a way community schemes and schools teaching ELS can be
associated with Heartstart UK and linked to each other: It does not
give membership to the BHF.
Heartstart UK in the community
Heartstart UK schemes are groups that provide free ELS training for
the public. The initiative works in partnership with organisations
to establish local community schemes.
Many of these schemes run Heartstart UK 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 UK in schools
Young people of ten years and over can attend a Heartstart
UK course. However, some ELS skills like making a 999 call
or can be learnt by much younger children.
Heartstart UK schools provide ELS training for
pupils, usually as part of their curriculum.
The course can be delivered in two ways:
1. as a stand alone course for children of 10 and over
2. as a staged programme starting with children as young as 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
