Where you live could decide whether you survive a cardiac arrest: Resus Annie on Tour visiting six UK cities.
- Survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest vary dramatically depending on where in the UK it happens, 1 in 9 (11.3%) in London to 9.5% in Northern Ireland.
- North West of England (7.8%) and East Midlands (7.8%) also fall well behind the capital, while Greater Glasgow and Clyde (10.10%) sits somewhere in between.
- There are approximately 123,080 defibrillators across the UK, yet many people have no idea where their nearest one is, or how to use it.
Would you know what to do if someone collapsed in cardiac arrest in front of you? That question is being put to people across the UK this October, as a UK-wide campaign highlights the simple actions that can help save a life before an ambulance arrives.
Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK) will bring Restart a Heart 2026 to communities across the UK through Resus Annie on Tour, a travelling CPR training manikin visiting six cities to help tackle inequalities in cardiac arrest survival. The tour starts in Leicester on 5 October and finishes in Manchester on 29 October, with stops in Glasgow, London, Cardiff, and Belfast along the way.
Cardiac arrest is one of the most time-critical medical emergencies a person can face. Every year, 115,000 people experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, and survival is a race against the clock. Immediate recognition, early CPR and rapid defibrillation can be the difference between life and death, often before an ambulance even arrives.
Yet not everyone has equal access to lifesaving knowledge. RCUK data shows that people from ethnic minority backgrounds are less likely to have accessed CPR training and are less likely to know where their nearest defibrillator is or how to use it. Meanwhile, people living in more deprived communities are less likely to receive bystander CPR, despite it having the potential to double a person's chance of survival.
Resus Annie on Tour tackles this challenge head-on by giving people the opportunity to practise CPR and speak directly with experts in the communities that need it most. Members of the public are being encouraged to stop and speak to the team when they spot Resus Annie in their city, where RCUK will be sharing lifesaving advice, hearing local perspectives, and helping more people gain the confidence to act in an emergency.
The campaign also encourages people to learn the steps to CPR through a dedicated QR code. After completing the training, individuals can register as ResusReady, helping RCUK map where lifesaving skills are being developed across the UK and identify communities where further support is needed.
Adam Benson-Clarke, Clinical Director at RCUK, said: "Nobody's chance of surviving a cardiac arrest should depend on their postcode, ethnicity or background. Yet we know that access to lifesaving skills and knowledge is not equal. Through Resus Annie on Tour, we're helping more people learn CPR and feel confident stepping in when every second counts."
To find out more about Restart a Heart 2026 and register as ResusReady, you can visit: www.resus.org.uk/get-involved/restart-heart-day