A kiosk designed to teach people how to do CPR has opened in Bradford. The facility, located on the concourse of Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI), is the first of its kind in an NHS hospital.
Patients, visitors, and hospital staff can use its built-in mannequin and screen guide to learn how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Each year, there are about 3,300 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Yorkshire, but only one in 13 of these people survive.
There are around 60,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK each year, half of which are witnessed by a bystander. Around 59,000 people are living with heart and circulatory diseases in Bradford, leading to 110 deaths each month.
Eve Flockton, Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust’s resuscitation training lead, told the BBC, “This can save a life, simple as that. Everyone should know how to do CPR effectively as you never know when you might need it. The chances are it could be someone you know as most cardiac arrests happen in the home or workplace.”
The head of the mannequin glows if the CPR technique is correct. Flockton explained that performing CPR on someone ensures “sufficient blood containing oxygen reaches the brain, heart and other organs to keep the person alive for several minutes.” That, she added, would buy time for an ambulance or other medical care to arrive.
