Local School Children To Be Taught Life Saving Skills

Aiming to boost Ealing Borough's low bystander CPR rate

Children learning about CPR from LAS paramedics

November 1, 2023

London Ambulance Service (LAS) has embarked on a campaign to boost the number of people with life saving skills in the borough of Ealing.

The move was prompted after figures showed that the area had the second lowest bystander CPR rate in London. This means it is less likely that someone would be around to give you life-saving chest compressions before an ambulance arrived if you went into cardiac arrest. The borough also had a high number of cardiac arrest patients and low survival rates. 

As a result, LAS has identified that Ealing was a high priority for its London Lifesavers schools programme, which aims to teach life-saving skills to Year 8 children.

The team is offering free training as part of a drive to make the capital one of the best cities in the world at responding to cardiac arrest.

Children will be taught how to recognise when someone is in cardiac arrest and how to give chest compressions to keep blood pumping round the body. They will also be shown how to use a defibrillator, which can restart a heart.

Sam Palfreyman-Jones, Head of First Responders, said, “We have looked at the number of cardiac arrest patients and survival rates to decide where we can have the most impact with our training.

“We know that by teaching life-saving skills in schools in Ealing and giving children the confidence to use a defibrillator, more lives will be saved in those crucial minutes before an ambulance arrives.

“Most cardiac arrests happen in the home, so we hope to show children that by learning these simple skills, they could save someone they love.”

This is exactly what teenager Oliva Smith did when her step-father Geraldo Folie collapsed at home earlier this year. Oliva – who learnt life-saving skills in the scouts – recognised the signs of cardiac arrest and immediately dialled 999 and started giving him chest compressions.

Olivia said, “I learned what to do at Scouts five or six years ago but the training kicked in as soon as I saw Geraldo gasping for breath.

“I’m so happy seeing Geraldo at home now – I see him laugh and tell myself ‘wow, look what I did!’. “When I learned these skills I never expected to use them but these incidents happen and thanks to London Lifesavers, more lives will be saved.” 

Copenhagen, Seattle and Victoria State have proved survival rates improve with increased bystander intervention, where members of the public can recognise the condition quickly, call an ambulance and start chest compressions and defibrillation quickly. Early chest compressions and the use of a defibrillator can more than double someone’s chances of survival.

The London Lifesavers team also train members of the public at pop-up events across London and offer training to businesses, charities and community organisations. 

As part of the campaign, LAS is also seeking to get thousands more defibrillators into communities where they can start saving lives.

LAS Chief Executive Daniel Elkeles said, “The good news is that we have some of the best response ambulance response times in the country for cardiac arrest patients but every second counts before an ambulance arrives and evidence shows that increasing bystander intervention is the key. 

“We need to build a social movement that makes life-saving training one of the things that lots of people know how to do and we need to get defibrillators in every corner of the city – and that work begins in Ealing.”

Schools can find opportunities to train Year 8 cohorts on the London Lifesavers schools webpage.

You can also learn how to save a life and join the  London Lifesavers Campaign.