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Wales encouraged to learn CPR and become a nation of lifesavers with Restart a Heart Live 2025

26.09.25

Save a Life Cymru is calling on people across Wales to take part in Restart a Heart Live 2025, a free, online CPR training event on Wednesday 1 October, designed to empower the public with the confidence and skills to save a life if a cardiac emergency happens.

The event will be live streamed on YouTube and tailored to meet the needs of different audiences throughout the day:

  • Morning sessions will focus on engaging primary school pupils with age-appropriate CPR lessons.
  • Afternoon sessions will be designed for secondary school and college students, to reinforce their lifesaving skills.
  • Sessions 3.00pm to 9.00pm, the event will be aimed at the public, and will offer accessible, hands-only CPR training and guidance on how to use a defibrillator.

A cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, anywhere, and at any time.

Research shows that for every minute someone is in cardiac arrest without receiving CPR and defibrillation, their chance of survival decreases by 10%.

Immediate bystander intervention is critical and can mean the difference between life and death.

Restart a Heart Live 2025 will offer accessible CPR awareness training in short, engaging sessions that require no special equipment.

Last year, Cardiff photographer Anthony Crothers was visiting Swansea with family and friends to capture the dramatic Gower landscapes when he suddenly collapsed.

His friend Glyn Dewis, also a photographer, immediately began CPR.

Several bystanders joined in, and a defibrillator was quickly retrieved from Pennard Stores.

Thanks to their swift action, and the expert care provided by the Welsh Ambulance Service, the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service and Wales Air Ambulance, Anthony was stabilised and transferred to Morriston Hospital, Swansea.

A week later he woke up in the intensive care unit at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff.

Anthony said: “I have no recollection of what happened to me.

“It may be the brain’s safety mechanism of wiping away the trauma, but you think you are invincible until something like this happens to you.

“My recovery is going well.

“I have been attending cardiac rehab sessions, and I am committed to staying fit and healthy.

“I am only here today thanks to a host of dedicated professionals, but without that initial bystander CPR and defibrillation, things might have been very different for me and my family.”

Julie Starling, Save a Life Cymru’s Clinical Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Programme Manager, emphasised the importance of bystander intervention: “It is important that we recognise the courage of people who are willing to give CPR a go.

“Doing something is always better than doing nothing.

“Anthony’s story is a powerful reminder that we all have a role to play in the chain of survival.

“By encouraging people to register for Restart a Heart Live, we aim to train today the bystanders of tomorrow in hands-only CPR and using a defibrillator. Our aim with Restart a Heart Live is simply to help save lives.”

Save a Life Cymru is inviting schools, workplaces, community groups and individuals across Wales to register and take part as together, we can build a nation of lifesavers.

The event is on Wednesday 1 October 2025 from 9.00am to 9.00pm.

Register here: www.restartaheart.live

Editor's Notes
Save a Life Cymru was established in 2019 by Welsh Government.  

The programme is now established within the Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust to focus public awareness on CPR and the importance of defibrillators across communities to increase the out of hospital cardiac arrest survival in Wales.

Save a Life Cymru is working in partnership with Save a Life for Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service, Resuscitation Council UK and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives to deliver Restart a Heart Live.

It is an initiative aimed at training people in CPR; the event on 1 October 2025 is designed to increase awareness and skills in lifesaving techniques.

The goal is to train one million people across the UK in CPR by 2027.

Restart a Heart Liv leads to the month-long Welsh Ambulance Service 'Shoctober' campaign which provides primary schools in Wales with face-to-face CPR and defibrillation awareness training and Restart a Heart Day on 16 October.