Lifesaving kiosk to open in Bradford Royal Infirmary

A kiosk which aims to help teach people how to keep someone alive if their heart stops has opened in Bradford.

The unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) is the first of its kind in an NHS hospital.

Patients, visitors and hospital staff can use the manikin and built-in on-screen guide to learn how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

There are around 3,300 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests every year in Yorkshire, but only one in 13 of these people survive.

Eve Flockton, Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust’s CPR training manager, said she couldn’t stress enough how important a CPR skill is.

“It can save a life, as simple as that,” she said.

“Everyone should know how to do CPR effectively because you never know when you might need it.

“Chances are it could be someone you know because most cardiac arrests happen at home or at work.”

Ms Flockton said performing CPR on someone would ensure “blood containing enough oxygen gets to 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.

Jørgen Moore, one of the trust’s resuscitation officers, said they wanted to “treat and educate people”.

“We don’t just want to educate our staff, we also want to engage with the community and help educate the community here in Bradford.”

There are around 60,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK each year, half of which are witnessed by a bystander.

Dr David Robinson, the trust’s director of education, said they were proud to be the first hospital in the UK to offer this “life-saving training in this way”.

Around 59,000 people live with heart and circulatory disease in Bradford, leading to 110 deaths every month, he said.