Resuscitation Guidelines UK 2025 — Every Change You Need to Know

The Resuscitation Council UK Guidelines 2025 have arrived, and they bring the most significant updates since 2021.

From how we teach CPR in schools to new first aid priorities and refined clinical guidance, these changes reflect years of international collaboration and research led by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) and adapted for the UK by the Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK).

These new guidelines will be implemented in all accredited training courses from January 2026. So whether you’re a workplace first aider, healthcare professional, first responder or safety manager, it’s time to get ready.

This blog outlines a summary of changes to The Resuscitation Council UK Guidelines.

A major shift in 2025 is the focus on early and continuous resuscitation education.

• CPR and basic lifesaving skills should now be taught from ages 4–6, continuing annually through school.

• Training should use gamified learning, simulation, and real-time feedback devices to make practice engaging and effective.

• Faculty development is emphasised, ensuring instructors have recognised medical education skills.

• Hybrid and remote training models are encouraged, particularly in low-resource or rural settings.

“Resuscitation education should begin early and be accessible to all.”
— Resuscitation Council UK Guidelines 2025

Each year, UK ambulance services report around 115,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs), with resuscitation attempted in around 43,000.

• Bystander CPR is given in 60–73% of cases, but AED use remains below 10%.

• Survival to 30 days: 9–10% overall, around 30% in the Utstein group.

• In-hospital cardiac arrests (IHCAs): around 12,755 cases annually, with 26% survival to discharge.

These statistics underline why early CPR and defibrillation supported by trained responders are crucial.

The 2025 guidance emphasises person-centred decision-making and clear documentation such as ReSPECT forms to support emergency care planning.
Families should be given the choice to be present during resuscitation where possible, and all staff should receive ethical training using simulation-based learning.

Decisions to stop resuscitation should consider patient values, reversibility, and futility, with organisations providing consistent policies and audits.

The Systems Saving Lives framework calls for a nationwide approach:

• Mandatory CPR training for school pupils, students, and new drivers.

• Community first responder systems linked to AED registries (The Circuit).

• Improved ambulance-to-hospital handover and post-arrest care.

• Support for cardiac arrest survivors and co-survivors after discharge.

• Some of the most practical changes appear in adult BLS:

  • Call 999 before checking breathing for any unresponsive person.

  • Laboured, gasping, or panting breathing = cardiac arrest — start CPR immediately.

  • Compression rate: 100–120 per minute, depth 5–6 cm.

  • Rescue breaths if trained; otherwise, chest compressions only.

  • AED pad placement: one pad on the right upper chest (below the collarbone), one on the left side below the armpit.

  • If cardiac arrest occurs on a bed — do not move the casualty.
    Remove pillows from under the head and kneel on the bed beside them — your body weight will help compress the soft mattress effectively.

  Ambulance call handlers now guide callers through CPR and AED use — and connect them with local first responders via The Circuit.

• Guidance now reinforces that while ALS algorithms remain the foundation, rescuers must act fast on reversible causes beyond cardiac disease.
  This includes scenarios like pregnancy (resuscitative hysterotomy), obesity, thrombosis, toxin exposure, sport, and surgery.
  Ethical preparedness, teamwork, and simulation are emphasised throughout.

The Paediatric Life Support 2025 Guidelines bring important updates:

• New age definitions:

  • Baby/Infant: 0–1 year

  • Child: 1–12 years

  • Adolescent: 13–18 years

• Compression depths:

  • Baby/Infants: 1/3 Depth of Chest

  • Children: 1/3 Depth of Chest

  • Adolescents: 5–6 cm (same as adults)

• Rescue breaths: Start CPR in anyone under 18 with five initial rescue breaths, recognising hypoxia as the common cause of arrest.

• AED pad placement:

  • For Baby/Infants and children, pads should be placed front and back (one on the chest centre, one on the back between the shoulder blades).

  • For adolescents, use adult pads in the standard adult position.

A new section on special circumstances — trauma, asthma, hypothermia, drowning — promotes early recognition, teamwork, and family-centred care.

The 2025 update clarifies that cardiac arrest from drowning is caused by hypoxia, a reversible cause.
You should now:

Give five initial rescue breaths before starting chest compressions.

Previously, this was taught only to lifeguards and water rescue professionals, but it’s now mainstream first aid guidance for everyone.

The 2025 Guidelines introduce a dedicated First Aid chapter for the first time, recognising it as the essential first link in the chain of survival.

The biggest change?

The introduction of the ABCDE approach to casualty assessment:
A – Airway | B – Breathing | C – Circulation | D – Disability | E – Exposure

This structured method helps first aiders assess and prioritise safely and systematically, bringing professional structure to community-level response.

Other key inclusions:

• Broader coverage of medical and environmental emergencies (bleeding, choking, asthma, hypothermia, etc.)

• Five rescue breaths for drowning victims

• Recognition of mental health emergencies, with suicidal thoughts delivered as an informal new first aid discussion topic

This reinforces that first aid is about more than physical injuries. It’s about saving lives, preventing deterioration, and showing compassion in any crisis.

These new guidelines will be rolled out in training courses from January 2026. Updates will continue every five years, but evidence reviews will run continuously through ILCOR.

📣 The new Resuscitation Guidelines UK 2025 come into effect from January 2026

Make sure your team is ready to respond with confidence.

It is highly recommended by the Health and Safety Executive that trained First Aiders undertake annual refresher training.

“To help keep their basic skills up to date, it is strongly recommended that first-aiders undertake annual refresher training”.

In 2026, update your training. Be Ready. Save lives! with our new updated First Aid courses.

At Eden Custom Training, all of our courses, from workplace first aid to advanced life support, are being updated to meet the 2025 Resuscitation Council UK Guidelines.

We’ll help your organisation stay current, compliant, and confident to save a life in an emergency.

When lives depend on you: Be prepared. Be trained. Save a life