British Red Cross calls for first aid education to become compulsory in Welsh schools

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  Concerning new research finds over half of parents say they have dealt with a first aid emergency at home whilst almost a third of parents (30%) say they wouldn’t know how to help their child in a first aid emergency at home.
• 65% of parents admit they feel worried, scared or helpless when dealing with a first aid scenario at home
• Two-thirds of parents think it’s important to learn first aid ahead of any potential second lockdown, according to Red Cross survey
• Simple first aid skills only take a minute to learn and could save a life

This World First Aid Day the British Red Cross continues to call for first aid education to become compulsory in schools across Wales and is encouraging everyone to learn lifesaving skills by downloading the first aid app via the app store or Google play.

Children dancing, being bitten by a snake and cooking have all caused first aid injuries at home during lockdown, according to a new survey by British Red Cross to mark World First Aid Day.

The concerning new research, carried out by Opinium, showed that while over half (58%) of parents with children under 14 years old have dealt with an accident at home, almost a third (30%) say they wouldn’t know how to help their child in a first aid emergency in the home. 65% of parents admit they feel worried, scared or helpless when dealing with a first aid scenario at home.

During lockdown, first aid emergencies at home included burns as children helped in the kitchen, falling off beds or other objects in the home. Bumps and bruises as children burnt off energy playing at home were also common. 

Other common accidents parents reported outside of the lockdown period included falls from trampolines and beds, choking on food and burns.

With the future of how coronavirus will continue uncertain and with the local lockdown already in place in Caerphilly, around two-thirds [65%] of parents of 0-14 year olds think it’s important to learn first aid skills ahead of any potential second lockdown. Which is why the British Red Cross has created the simple and easy to use first aid app to encourage everyone to learn vital first aid skills in just one minute.

The British Red Cross continues to call for first aid to become a compulsory part of the school curriculum in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The call comes as children who returned to schools across England this month will learn life saving skills as part of the curriculum, after ten years of campaigning from the British Red Cross and other organisations.

As Curriculum for Wales 2022 was published in January, proposals to include life saving skills and first aid without making them mandatory on the curriculum received a cautious welcome from leading health charities in Wales.

The new curriculum which will be used throughout Wales from 2022 recommends first aid education to enable children and young people to learn about behaviours, conditions and situations that affect physical health and how to respond to these but it stops short of the charity’s call for first aid education to become a mandatory subject. It also means that teaching could differ from school to school, leading to a disparity in levels of knowledge or confidence of lifesaving skills. The British Red Cross continues to call for mandatory first aid education all schools in Wales, for a minimum of one hour a year, every year to empower a future generation of lifesavers. 

Dafydd Beech, British Red Cross First aid spokesperson said:

“Our concerning new research shows that whilst over half of parents have had to deal with an accident in the home, almost a third wouldn’t know how to help their child in a first aid emergency. With more parents at home with their kids during lockdown it’s as vital as ever to learn these simple, yet lifesaving skills.”

“We also know that visits to A&E went down dramatically during this time, so we all need to be ready to handle basic injuries at home, and recognise when an incident needs urgent medical intervention.”

“We know that lockdown has seen parents juggling multiple responsibilities, that’s why we’ve found a way to make learning first aid as quick and easy as possible – with our first aid app.”

The Red Cross is encouraging all parents to get first aid training or download the British Red Cross app.  

First aid skills you can learn in one minute on the Red Cross first aid app include:

• How to help a child who is choking
• How to help a child with a broken bone
• How to help a child with burn
• How to help a child with head injury 

The British Red Cross has developed a free first aid app, once downloaded, the app is designed to work even when internet connections are unavailable, and will guide the user through emergencies situations, as well as providing training and games. 

Download the first aid app via the app store or Google play.