Mike Penning supports a British Heart Foundation drive to train people in emergency life-saving skills.

On 10th January Mike Penning took part in a full Heartstart UK training session with British Heart Foundation’s Heartstart UK manager, Colin Elding. The training session, which was held at the House of Commons, included using a manikin to learn vital resuscitation skills. Having served in the Fire Service, Mike knows well the procedure but joined the training session to refresh his skills in order to support Heartstart UK.

Heart and circulatory disease is the UK’s biggest single killer. Peter Hollins, Director General of the British Heart Foundation said “Performing basic life support can double a person’s chances of survival, and having a defibrillator close to hand can further increase their chances.” 7 out of 10 cardiac arrests occur away from a hospital and currently only a small percentage of these people survive. Heartstart UK, which is co-ordinated by British Heart Foundation, teaches people what to do in a life-threatening emergency. In addition, the British Heart Foundation is working to increase the number of defibrillators in the community.

Mike Penning, who is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Heart Disease, said “Schemes like the Heartstart UK and the National Defibrillator Programme can save lives. When someone suffers a cardiac arrest, their chances of survival can drop by up to 14% for every minute that passes where no basic life support is applied. I encourage people to register with a Heartstart UK scheme.”

Photo: Mike Penning at the Heartstart training session.

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