HOLMES Chapel MP Fiona Bruce is urging secondary schools to register for a free CPR training kit as part of the Nation of Lifesavers campaign.

Every year more than 30,000 people suffer an out of hospital cardiac arrest in the UK but fewer than 10 people survive; the campaign could save around 5,000 additional lives a year.

As a result, Mrs Bruce has pledged her support for the campaign and called on secondary schools to order their Call Push Rescue Training Kit.

She said: “If our young people can finish school equipped with the necessary skills to respond in a medical emergency then just 30 minutes of training could save someone’s life.”

The British Heart Foundation trained nearly 12,000 schoolchildren at the launch of a new free CPR training programme.

Simon Gillespie, BHF Chief Executive, said: “We’re determined to radically improve the country’s shocking survival rates.

“We need every school, workplace, community group and individual to join the Nation of Lifesavers to make the UK a safer place to live."

Since the launch of the campaign, more than 5,00 people have signed the petition to make CPR skills part of the curriculum; to sign it yourself go to bhf.org.uk/cprpetition.