Charity in first aid teaching campaign

Almost 900 people a year choke to death in situations where first aid could potentially make a difference while 2,500 suffocate due to a blocked airway and 29,000 die from heart attacks.

Today, St John Ambulance is launching a campaign to get more people to learn first aid skills.

Its survey of more than 2,000 people found 59 per cent would not feel confident trying to save a life.

Meanwhile, almost a quarter (24 per cent) would do nothing if they saw somebody struggling and would either wait for an ambulance to arrive or hope a passer-by knew first aid.

St John Ambulance chief executive Sue Killen said: "We can't rely on other people to have the skills – everyone should take the responsibility to learn first aid themselves.

"Armed with this knowledge we can all be the difference between a life lost and a life saved."

"Around 2,500 people die each year from a blocked airway, but if someone had known the recovery position, lives could have been saved."

The charity has launched a free pocket guide to first aid which maps out what to do in five life-threatening situations.

People can get it by texting LIFE to 85010.

The campaign is backed by Beth Chesney-Evans, whose son Guy Evans died in August 2008 aged 17 after his motorcycle crashed near his home in Didcot, Oxfordshire.

She said: "He had no injuries at all but died because his heart apparently stopped and he couldn't breathe - and those are conditions that first aid is designed to deal with until the ambulance arrives."