Survival and support
BHF NI calls for mandatory CPR training in post-primary schools
Our Head in Northern Ireland has urged the new Education Minister to make CPR training mandatory in post-primary schools.
Fearghal McKinney has written to Minister Michelle McIlveen urging her to back our campaign for CPR training and defibrillator awareness to be a compulsory part of schooling in Northern Ireland.
Saturday night’s events, when Danish footballer Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed in Denmark's Euro 2020 match against Finland, are an important reminder that everyone should be given the opportunity to learn CPR.
In Northern Ireland we have been campaigning for a number of years on the issue and recently met with outgoing Minister Peter Weir to discuss making the training compulsory.
Each year around 1,400 people suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Northern Ireland, but less than one in ten people survive. Most of those occur in the home. If children were given vital CPR training in school the cardiac arrest survival rate could be increased.
Time to make a change
Fearghal McKinney said: “Our thoughts are with Christian Eriksen, his family and the whole football community following his sudden collapse. This is a stark reminder that a cardiac arrest can strike anyone, anywhere and anytime, without warning.
“Knowing simple CPR skills and how to use a defibrillator is vital to ensure that every person who suffers a cardiac arrest has the best chance of survival. When a cardiac arrest strikes, every minute without CPR and defibrillation by up to ten per cent.
“That is why I have written to the new Minister Michelle McIlveen once again urging action on this issue. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where CPR training is not mandatory in post-primary schools. It is time we made that change.”
He added that we already supply free CPR training kits to post primary schools.
"Through the work of BHF NI more than two thirds of post-primary schools can offer CPR training," he said. "This is a very simple decision from the new Minister that can save lives as the events we all witnessed on Saturday night show.
“We know that the parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly support this move. We are urging the Education Minister to take action on this now and make CPR training compulsory for all children in post primary school.”