Female manikins introduced to Yorkshire CPR training

Female manikins are being introduced to CPR training across Yorkshire, in a bid to close the gender gap in cardiac arrest survival.

The Yorkshire Ambulance Service Charity has joined forces with Yorkshire Ambulance Service to fund the manikins.

They will now be used by the ambulance service's Community Engagement team and volunteers, who deliver thousands of CPR training sessions to people of all ages across the region each year.

Why the manikins are being introduced

Research by St John Ambulance found a third of the British public are afraid to give CPR to a woman.

The same survey found 38 per cent of Britons would feel uncomfortable using a defibrillator on a woman, as the pads need to be placed on bare skin.

The charity and the ambulance service say that by introducing female manikins, they aim to increase awareness and remove the stigma.

They say they want to help people feel comfortable to act in the first vital moments after a cardiac arrest.

Carey Taylor, Head of the Yorkshire Ambulance Service Charity, said: "It's a very sad fact that women are less likely to receive bystander CPR and defibrillation than men."

Sasha Bipin, a Community Engagement Officer at Yorkshire Ambulance Service, said people on training sessions often ask whether CPR on a woman is different from CPR on a man.

Ms Bipin said: "Participants frequently raise concerns about maintaining a casualty's dignity when carrying out chest compressions or using a defibrillator, with some worried that they could get into trouble for assisting a female."

She said: "Having a female manikin helps to address these concerns, build confidence and ensure participants feel better prepared to provide lifesaving support to anyone who needs it."

Cardiac arrest survival

More than 30,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest outside hospital in the UK every year.

The ambulance service says the earlier a patient receives CPR and a shock from a defibrillator, the greater their chance of survival.

It says a cardiac arrest patient in Yorkshire is nearly twice as likely to survive if a bystander steps in to perform CPR.

According to the service, bystanders stepped in at 1,972 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests across the region in 2025.

Their actions helped restart 643 hearts at the scene, leading to 132 long-term survivors (6.7 per cent).

There were 892 cardiac arrests where no bystander CPR was provided. In those cases, 33 people (3.7 per cent) survived past 30 days after being discharged from hospital.

Across the UK, 8.6 per cent of people survive a cardiac arrest.

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