Are UK Schools protected from Cardiac Arrest deaths?

While you may assume that cardiac arrests are reserved for older people, this simply isn’t the case. Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is a leading cause of death among people under 30 in the UK, including school children.

An estimated 270 children die every year in the UK from SCA, emphasising the need for awareness and equipment to be present in all schools.

In March 2023, a 14-year-old girl died following a cardiac arrest at a school in Essex. The teenager had collapsed during a PE lesson and was treated by school staff before being airlifted to hospital where she sadly died.

The 14-year-old did not have any previous medical conditions.

Is cardiac arrest common in children?

Thankfully, SCA is rare in children, but is still responsible for nearly 300 deaths of young people at schools in the UK every year and 12 young people (under 35 years of age) die each week from Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

Children are unfortunately vulnerable to SCA due to a number of reasons which include excessive exercise or activity. This can place extra strain on the muscle and could cause a cardiac arrest due to their hearts being in a state of development.

How can we protect children?

Since 2023, all state funded schools in England have access to a defibrillator, but this does not yet extend to the rest of the UK. There have been calls for every school in Wales to have an AED by law, following an investigation by S4C earlier in 2024.

A Freedom of Information request carried out by the broadcaster found that most local authorities in Wales had no record of which schools had defibrillators on site.

As well as having the devices at every school in the UK, we believe teachers and pupils alike should be given training on how to use AEDs. While these pieces of kit are designed to be used by anyone, training to build confidence can increase the chances of someone acting in an emergency.

Teachers and students should also be given training in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), CPR is vital to buy time for someone in cardiac arrest as it keeps to blood pumping around vital organs until an AED can be used.

Imperative Training

Acting decisively and confidently in a medical emergency such as a cardiac arrest can mean the difference between life and death. Having confidence in your CPR skills and knowledge of how to use an AED equips you to save a life.

Imperative Training has been providing life-saving first aid training of the highest standard for more than two decades; educating more than 10,000 people every year.

Contact us on 01617767420 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to learn how we can help you.