The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is calling on communities across the South West to learn CPR and how to use a defibrillator through free awareness sessions, offered to ensure more people can learn these lifesaving skills.

The sessions, delivered by Community Training Volunteers, are now available for communities to request and will help bring lifesaving training directly into towns, villages, and neighbourhoods across the South West.

In the UK, only around one in ten people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. However, when early CPR and a defibrillator are used within the first three to five minutes, survival rates can increase to as high as 70 per cent. Despite this, 38 per cent of UK adults have never received CPR training.

SWASFT hopes these new community sessions will help change that by teaching people how to recognise cardiac arrest, perform effective CPR and use a defibrillator.

The sessions are interactive, practical, and hands-on, with opportunities to practise CPR, use training defibrillators, and ask questions in a supportive environment.

Hannah Butler, Defibrillator Project Officer at SWASFT, said: “Those first few minutes after a cardiac arrest are absolutely crucial. By giving more people the skills and confidence to perform CPR and use a defibrillator, we can dramatically improve someone’s chance of survival.

This initiative forms part of SWASFT’s wider work to improve survival rates from cardiac arrest and tackle health inequalities by ensuring more communities have access to learning lifesaving skills.

Community Training Volunteers are trained, supported and governed by SWASFT, with funding support from the South Western Ambulance Charity. While the training sessions are free to communities, attendees are invited to make a voluntary donation to the South Western Ambulance Charity, helping the service reach more communities and equip more people with lifesaving skills.

Community groups interested in hosting a session can find out more and submit a booking request via the SWASFT website: https://www.swast.nhs.uk/cpr-and-defibrillator-training