To mark Restart a Heart Day, our senior policy officer Cornélie Martin looks back at policy and progress towards building a nation of lifesavers five years after CPR education became a mandatory part of the curriculum in England.
The difference between life and death
Every year, there are more than 40,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) in the United Kingdom, and the overall survival rate is less than one in 10. In those critical first moments, the actions of bystanders can make the difference between life and death. Every step of the chain of survival matters, from recognising a cardiac arrest and calling 999, to starting CPR quickly and accessing a defibrillator as soon as possible.
Bystander CPR and early defibrillation can increase a person's chances of surviving a cardiac arrest by up to 50 per cent. Along with our partners, we have long worked to equip more people with the knowledge, skills and confidence to respond in a cardiac arrest. One of the most significant steps forward has been ensuring young people can learn these lifesaving skills through education.
CPR on the curriculum
Secondary schools are uniquely placed to help build a nation of lifesavers, giving almost every young person the opportunity to learn skills that could one day help save a life. Working alongside partners including Resuscitation Council UK and St John Ambulance, we successfully campaigned for CPR education to be introduced into the national curriculum in England in 2021, with campaigns across the rest of the UK following that landmark change. CPR and defibrillator awareness became compulsory at Key Stage 3 in Northern Ireland in the 2022/23 academic year, while Scotland and Wales support schools to deliver CPR education through national programmes and curriculum resources.
Defibrillators in schools
In July 2022, the UK Government also announced a £19 million programme to ensure that all state-funded schools in England had access to a defibrillator by the end of the 2022/23 academic year. In January 2023, the department for education rolled out 21,000 defibrillators to 17,000 schools in England. This has the potential to not only strengthen preparedness within education settings but also to improve access across local communities if these defibrillators are accessible and known about, as analysis has found that around 33 per cent of OCHAs occur within 300m of schools.
Beyond schools
Over the last three years, we have funded over 1,000 defibrillators using Circuit data to inform placement in areas across the UK where they are most needed. Alongside increasing the number of publicly accessible defibrillators, significant progress has also been made in helping people locate these devices during an emergency. The Circuit, the national defibrillator network, is delivered through a partnership between us, the ambulance services, Resuscitation Council UK and NHS England. It helps ensure registered devices can be located by ambulance services and members of the public during an emergency.
Ensuring that all defibrillators are registered and kept up to date on The Circuit is therefore essential to maximise the impact of investment in their provision and strengthen the emergency response system. In 2024, The Circuit reached a major milestone when its 100,000th defibrillator was registered and progress has continued - today 124,000 defibrillators are registered.
While schools play a crucial role in building a nation of lifesavers, opportunities also exist to reach people beyond the classroom. For example, CPR-related questions have been introduced into the driving theory test in 2026, recognising that drivers may be among the first people to arrive at the scene of an emergency.
Looking ahead
Taken together, these developments have helped strengthen the UK's ability to respond to OHCAs and increase opportunities for people to learn lifesaving skills. The introduction of CPR education marked an important milestone, but the work does not stop there. Policies are only as good as their implementation and, five years on, we are seeking to understand how well the policy is working in practice and where further support may be needed to ensure that schools can play their full role in this important agenda. We are also continuing to promote defibrillator access through encouraging registration of all accessible defibrillators, including those installed in schools, on The Circuit.
Five years after the introduction of CPR on the curriculum, there is real progress to celebrate, but ensuring that as many people as possible have the knowledge and confidence to act in an emergency remains an important goal.
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