First aid lessons begin in schools ahead of roll-out
12 September 2019
Trials of first aid lessons in English schools begin this month, with the classes becoming compulsory from 2020.
A total of 1,600 schools from around the country are taking part.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said the new health curriculum would give every child "the chance to learn life-saving skills".
The British Red Cross said up to 59% of deaths by injury could be prevented in the UK if first aid was given prior to the arrival of medical services.
Primary school children will be taught basic skills such as how to call emergency services, while secondary school children will learn life-saving skills such as how to help someone who is suffering a cardiac arrest.
The British Heart Foundation said the lessons could help improve the UK's "shockingly low survival rates from cardiac arrests".
Survival rates in countries that teach first aid in school are up to three times higher, it added.
'She was having a fit, I had to help'
'Hero' boy backs first aid in schools
'I was standing at the bus stop when he collapsed'
Thomas, 14, saved a man's life at a bus stop using skills he had learnt during a first aid class
In May of this year, 14-year-old Thomas Nolan was waiting at a bus stop on his way to school in Kent when a man in his early 20s collapsed next to him.
While there were dozens of commuters nearby, nobody took action. Thomas - who had been on a first aid course two years earlier - decided to step in.
"I went over to check on him and a mate who was standing there called the ambulance," he told BBC News. "I realized he wasn't breathing so I started performing CPR."
Thomas's actions helped the man stay alive until the ambulance arrived, and he later found out he had helped save the man's life.
Sourced From: BBC NEWS
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