The Oliver King Foundation calls on PM for better defibrillator training in schools

Inadequate defibrillator training putting schoolchildren’s lives at risk, warns Oliver King Foundation as new term begins

The Oliver King Foundation, a charity set up to save lives by preventing death by sudden cardiac arrests, has written to the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer MP, demanding that urgent training for how to use life-saving defibrillators is given to teachers and school staff across England. 

Mark King OBE, Founder of the Oliver King Foundation, acknowledged the Government’s commitment to delivering all state-funded schools across England with defibrillators.  However, the Merseyside-based charity has now urged the Government to provide training to prevent lives being put needlessly at risk as children start to return to school ahead of the new term. 

The Government committed in 2022 to providing at least one defibrillator in every state-funded school by the end of the 22/23 academic year, but the Oliver King Foundation is picking up worrying concerns that, across England, the life-saving equipment is not available to use as schools do not have a trained member of staff that knows how to operate them. The charity is warning that training needs to be deployed to schools as a priority as up to 12 young people die of Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome each week in the UK. It is vital that schools should be safe spaces where teachers and staff are equipped to respond effectively in emergencies.

Mark King OBE, Founder of the Oliver King Foundation, who lost his 12-year-old son to sudden cardiac arrest during a school swimming race in 2012, said:

“This is a matter of safeguarding the health and lives of our children whilst at school. Training is a common-sense solution that transcends political lines and reflects a shared commitment to the wellbeing of every child in England.”

“The presence of defibrillators in schools alone is not going to solve the problem. Providing adequate training is crucial as a means of maximising the valuable investment made by the former Government and in ensuring that every child, teacher and visitors in our schools are as safe as possible in the event of a cardiac emergency. At the moment training is not being provided adequately and we are hearing from some schools that it is non-existent, with some defibrillators being locked in cupboards never to see the light of day again. It is deeply worrying.”

“Failure to provide this training is putting the lives of schoolchildren needlessly at risk. I am calling on the Prime Minister, who is a father himself, to get his Government to act on this. It is becoming an emergency in the school system. 

I have written to the Prime Minister and leaders of all political parties in the UK to raise this issue as children start returning to school next month.”

For more information, head to The Oliver King Foundation website.

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