Ambulance service backs campaign on CPR gender gap

An ambulance service has backed a campaign addressing gender inequality in life-saving treatment during cardiac arrests.

South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) said it supports the 'Bra Off, Defib On' campaign - which encourages people to take off women's bras when using a defibrillator on them.

It said that women are more likely to die from a cardiac arrest because their bra is not removed when the electric shock device is used.

SECAmb consultant paramedic Dan Cody said the actions taken by people when someone goes into cardiac arrest before an ambulance arrives can be the "difference between life and death."

"Early intervention significantly improves the chances of survival, yet we see many people still feeling unsure about stepping in," he continued.

Every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces a person's chance of survival by around 10%, according to SECAmb.

Women are around 27% less likely to receive bystander CPR than men, according to SECAmb.

It added that out-of-hospital cardiac arrest was one of the UK's leading causes of death, with only around one in 10 people surviving.

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