South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) will be taking part in this year’s Restart a Heart Day on Wednesday 15 October 2025, with the ambitious goal of training more than 10,000 school students across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire in how to carry out lifesaving CPR and use a defibrillator.
Nearly 100 schools across the region will be visited by teams of SCAS staff, community first responders and co-responders who are giving up their time to deliver the training sessions. The initiative forms part of a national effort to improve survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.
Every year in the UK, there are nearly 30,000 people who suffer a cardiac arrest outside of hospital where treatment is attempted, yet less than one in ten survive. Crucially, for every minute that passes without CPR or a shock from a defibrillator, a person’s chance of survival decreases by 10%.
David Hamer, paramedic and operations manager at SCAS, said:
“Restart a Heart Day is one of the most important dates in our calendar because it’s about giving thousands of young people the skills and the confidence to save a life. We are incredibly grateful to our community first responders, co-responders, and SCAS staff who are volunteering their time to visit schools across our region. Without their commitment, this huge training effort would not be possible. Together, we can give more people the chance of surviving a cardiac arrest.”
The training sessions are designed to equip students with the knowledge that anyone can make the difference in an emergency – learning chest compressions and how to use a defibrillator could save a friend, family member or stranger’s life.
Restart a Heart Day is part of a worldwide initiative led by the Resuscitation Council, British Heart Foundation, St John Ambulance, British Red Cross and ambulance services across the UK.