A new UK law being introduced could bring significant changes to all schools across the nation. If Parliament passes the proposal, children could receive classes on how to treat serious bleeding in the aftermath of car crashes or stabbings. The lessons would teach students to recognise 'life-threatening bleeding' and provide treatment.
Bill details and background
The potential new law is part of a Bill by Conservative MP Neil Shastri-Hurst (Solihull West and Shirley), who is also a former honorary consultant trauma co-ordinator at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and a former British Army major. It would build on current life-saving teaching schools have already implemented, including CPR.
Mr Shastri-Hurst highlighted the importance of the 'stop the bleed training' in an interview with the Press Association. He said: "In a similar way that we have created a critical mass of individuals who know how to do CPR when somebody has a cardiac arrest, and that is in one way, shape or form embedded in the curriculum. Kids leave school knowing that."
Lives at risk without training
He added: "If we can train a critical mass in terms of how to recognise catastrophic bleeding and how to deal with it, that is going to save a huge number of lives, because the average time for, even in an emergency, an ambulance to come is about eight-and-a-half minutes. But you can bleed out in four."
Mr Shastri-Hurst noted that people arrive at major trauma centres in the most acute extremis, and some might have survived with intervention at the scene. He said: "It would have given them a fighting chance. This is literally one of those scenarios where minutes matter."
Training and techniques
According to the Conservative MP, the charity Citizen Aid had already trained 1,000 children in a school in a single day between him and a couple of volunteers. The charity was founded by consultant trauma surgeon Sir Keith Porter and Major General Tim Hodgetts, the former surgeon general for the armed forces.
The skills could be applied in the aftermath of a range of incidents, from a car crash to a sporting injury or terror attack, Mr Shastri-Hurst noted. He stated that if there is serious bleeding, the key thing is to apply pressure to stem it. When this doesn't work, people are advised to make a tourniquet with anything appropriate, from a belt to a tie to a shoelace, and twist it to build enough tension to stop blood flow.
The Emergency and Life-Saving Skills (Schools) Bill is scheduled to be debated in Parliament on Friday (October 16). It needs government support to pass. Mr Shastri-Hurst said: "It's giving people the confidence not just to know what to do, but have the confidence to put that into action. It's a low-tech set of training, you can do most of it with a drainpipe, a bit of foam and, as I say, a tie or a bandage or a handkerchief and a spoon. You can do the basic training on stop the bleed in about 10-15 minutes. They then go and explain it to their families, and all of a sudden you are building up a critical mass of individuals who know how to do it."
He continued: "It's around building up our national resilience, and part of that national resilience is having a society that knows how to respond in an emergency."
