MP Vara learns emergency life saving skills.

Shailesh Vara MP has joined the call to encourage more people to learn how to cope when someone suffers a cardiac arrest and there is a life threatening situation.

Shailesh Vara MP has joined the call to encourage more people to learn how to cope when someone suffers a cardiac arrest and there is a life threatening situation.

Mr Vara, the MP for North West Cambridgeshire, recently attended a course on life-saving skills at the Houses of Parliament. He was given advice on what to do in an emergency situation at a special course organised by the British Heart Foundation.

"The idea was to help raise awareness about a new initiative called Heartstart UK, organised by the BHF and designed to teach members of the public what to do in a life threatening emergency," explained Mr Vara.

"It was a fascinating experience. Obviously none of us ever wish to be in such a situation, but at least I now have a basic idea of how to cope if someone has a cardiac arrest."

Seven out of 10 cardiac arrests occur out of hospital, and currently in the UK, only a small percentage of these people survive. So through the Heartstart UK scheme, the British Heart Foundation is spreading knowledge of emergency skills as part of an effort to reduce deaths from heart and circulatory disease, which is still the country's biggest killer.

Mr Vara added; "When someone suffers a cardiac arrest, their chances of survival drop by 14 per cent every minute that passes where no basic life support is applied, so a speedy response is crucial. That is why schemes like this one are so important - they save lives!"

To find out about a local Heartstart UK scheme, visit www.bhf.org.uk/heartstart.

Photo:Shailesh Vara supports the British Heart Foundations's Heartstart UK scheme