• Alcohol
• Asbestos
• Cancer
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Display Screen Equipment
• Domestic Violence
• Fire
• Gas Safety and Carbon Monoxide
• High Blood Pressure
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Mobile Phones
• Prostate Diseases
• Road Safety
• Stroke Awareness
• Sun Exposure and Heat Stress
• Work-Related Stress
• Workplace Bullying

As the first organisation in the UK to actively promote Hands-only CPR, backed by Resuscitation Council UK, the British Heart Foundation says anyone who doesn’t have CPR training should now ignore the kiss of life in favour of “hard and fast” compressions in the centre of the chest. They conducted a poll that showed nearly half of people are put off helping because of a lack of knowledge about CPR. A fifth of respondents worried specifically about the thought of the kiss of life or catching an infectious disease.

National Campaign

A national campaign, including a TV advertisement featuring Vinnie Jones, shows how simple it is to perform Hands-only CPR can be, encouraging more people to help if somebody is in cardiac arrest. They say, Hands-only CPR should give lots of people the confidence and know-how to help save someone.

The UK-wide survey also revealed four in ten people feared they’d be sued if they did something wrong, despite the fact there’s never been a successful case of that kind in the UK. Without CPR of some kind there is a very small chance of someone surviving cardiac arrest.

You Could Help Save Someone’s Life

It's not as hard as it looks – No more kissing – just hard and fast CPR to the Bee Gees

Ellen Mason, British Heart Foundation Senior Cardiac Nurse, says:

“The kiss of life can often be daunting for untrained bystanders who want to help when someone has collapsed with a cardiac arrest. “Hands-only CPR should give lots of people the confidence and know-how to help save someone in cardiac arrest, the ultimate medical emergency. It’s been shown that hard, fast and uninterrupted chest compressions are better than stopping compressions for ineffective rescue breaths. It’s very simple; call 999 and then push hard and fast in the centre of the chest at a tempo similar to "Stayin’ Alive" by the Bee Gees. If you’re untrained or unconfident about the kiss of life give Hands-only CPR a go instead - it could help save someone’s life.”

Chest compressions with rescue breaths will continue to be part of gold standard CPR and taught during formal training, including on British Heart Foundation Heartstart courses.