Restart a Heart Day 2026: Why This October Matters More Than Most
Every October, Resuscitation Council UK leads a nationwide push to get more people CPR ready, and this year's campaign is genuinely worth paying attention to, whether you're in Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch, or anywhere else across Dorset. Two dates matter most.
Restart a Heart Live takes place on Thursday 1 October
2026, a free livestreamed CPR event running hourly from 09:00 to 19:00. Anyone can register to take part, and it's designed to be accessible for schools, workplaces, community groups, and families alike. No equipment is needed. Just a cushion, a folded jacket, or a teddy, and about 25 minutes of your time.
Restart a Heart Day itself falls on 16 October, with events running across the whole month. It's supported by an alliance including the British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross, St John Ambulance, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, NHS England, Save a Life for Scotland, Save a Life Cymru, and Northern Ireland Ambulance.
Why this Heart campaign exists
More than 40,000 people in the UK experience an out of hospital cardiac arrest every year, and fewer than 1 in 10 currently survive. Around 8 in 10 of these happen at home, not in a public place, which means the person most likely to help in those first critical minutes is a family member, a neighbour, or a friend rather than a stranger with medical training.
Immediate bystander CPR and early use of a defibrillator can more than double someone's chance of survival. That single fact is the entire reason this campaign exists. The skills aren't complicated, and they don't require a medical background. What's usually missing is confidence, and that's exactly what Restart a Heart Live and Restart a Heart Day are built to fix.
Last year's Restart a Heart Live reached over 130,000 viewers, with primary schools making up the clear majority of participants. Nearly 7,000 people learned CPR through the British Heart Foundation's free interactive tool RevivR on Restart a Heart Day alone. The organisers are working towards training 1 million people in CPR by 2027, and every school, workplace, or family that takes part this October moves that closer.
How to get involved
Register for Restart a Heart Live on Thursday 1 October. It runs on the hour, every hour, from 09:00 to 19:00, so there's a session that fits around most schedules.
If you're part of a school, college, workplace, or community group, consider hosting your own Restart a Heart event using the free toolkit, posters, and social media graphics available from Resuscitation Council UK.
Try RevivR, the British Heart Foundation's free 30 minute digital CPR and defibrillator training tool, if a live session doesn't fit your day.
If your community or workplace doesn't have a defibrillator nearby, look into the British Heart Foundation's Community Defibrillator Funding Programme, which offers free devices to communities that need one.
Once you've learned the basics, consider a proper Emergency First Aid at Work or CPR and AED course to build that confidence into genuine muscle memory rather than a one off session.
What CPR actually involves, if you're new to it
For an adult who isn't responding and isn't breathing normally, the steps are straightforward.
Call 999 immediately, or ask someone nearby to call while you start compressions.
Push hard and fast in the centre of the bare chest, at a rate of around 100 to 120 compressions per minute, allowing the chest to fully recoil between each one.
If a defibrillator is available, turn it on and follow its voice prompts. It will only advise a shock if one is genuinely needed.
Keep going until professional help arrives or the person starts to show signs of life.
None of this requires you to be certain, qualified, or calm. It only requires you to act rather than wait for someone else to.
A trainer's note from Bournemouth
We run Emergency First Aid at Work and CPR training across Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch, and the wider Dorset area throughout the year, and October is the month we're always glad to see arrive. Restart a Heart puts a national spotlight on something we think about every single week, that the gap between someone surviving a cardiac arrest and not often comes down to whether the person standing next to them knew what to do. If this October is the moment your workplace, school, or club finally gets everyone confident in CPR, that's exactly the point of the whole campaign.
FAQ
When is Restart a Heart Day 2026? Restart a Heart Live takes place on Thursday 1 October 2026, with free hourly livestreamed CPR sessions from 09:00 to 19:00. Restart a Heart Day itself falls on 16 October, with events running throughout the month.
Do I need any equipment to take part in Restart a Heart Live? No. All you need is a cushion, a folded jacket, or a teddy, and around 25 minutes of your time.
How many people survive out of hospital cardiac arrest in the UK? Fewer than 1 in 10 currently survive, though immediate bystander CPR and early defibrillator use can more than double a person's chance of survival.
Can my workplace or school get a free defibrillator? The British Heart Foundation's Community Defibrillator Funding Programme offers free devices to communities that need one, and is worth applying to if your workplace, club, or local area currently has none nearby.
Where can I get proper CPR training in Bournemouth or Dorset? Cracking Training runs fully regulated Emergency First Aid at Work and CPR and AED courses across Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch, and the wider Dorset area, all year round, not just during Restart a Heart month.
Cracking Training's Emergency First Aid at Work courses build genuine CPR confidence, taught hands on by trainers with real life experience, delivered right here in Bournemouth and across Dorset. See our upcoming courses or get in touch to make this Restart a Heart Day the one that actually sticks.
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