7. First aid training for children? (resolution)
Northern Region Board
That this meeting of RCN Congress calls on governments to mandate the teaching of first aid to school children.
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- Watch the debate
- Read the progress report
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- Read the background information
7. First aid training for children?? (R)Progress report
Council Committee: NPPC
Committee decision: Covered by existing work
Council member/other member/stakeholder involvement: Lors Allford, Saffron Brown
Staff contact: fiona.smith@rcn.org.uk
The importance and impact of inclusion of such aspects for children and young people has been highlighted as appropriate in relevant government consultation responses and in communication with ministers about the future school curriculum, PSHE and citizenship.
Debate report
Embedding first aid education in the national curriculum would mean “the difference between a life lost and a life saved” said Cate Woolley-Brown, Chair of Northern Region Board, as she addressed Congress on Tuesday.
As member after member supported the resolution, the resounding message was ‘its just common sense’, ‘training should be the norm rather than the exception’ and that it would prevent tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths each year.
Cate cited the recent report by St John Ambulance, St Andrew’s Ambulance Association and the British Red Cross which highlighted that two out of three people couldn’t save a life in an emergency. Up to 4000 deaths occur in the household, and many of these are preventable if only family or friends had received first aid training.
Bethann Siviter, South Birmingham Branch, said that in America first aid training is given to all children and ‘gives you respect for life”. Chris Brown, Leeds Branch, said “it’s about social responsibility. This resolution goes further than saving lives; it will have an impact on knife crime as children will have more respect for each other and staying safe”.
The provision of a first aid course for primary school children with a refresher every few years would be a simple, affordable and lifesaving solution.
Members voted overwhelmingly in favour of the vote and it passed with 99.14%.
FOR 460 – 99.14%
AGAINST 4 – 0.86%
ABSTAIN 4
Background
In 2009 research on the general public’s first aid awareness, commissioned by the St. John Ambulance, St. Andrew’s Ambulance Association and the British Red Cross revealed that:
- one-in-three people would not know what to do if their toddler was choking
- one-in-four people would not be able to help a person suffering an asthma attack
- just 20 per cent of women and 30 per cent of men felt sufficiently confident to attempt to resuscitate a casualty
- 77 per cent of people don’t know how to administer cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or are unsure of how to do it
- just 7 per cent of young people aged 16-24 felt that they knew how to perform CPR.
The findings also showed that people lacked the knowledge to undertake basic first aid procedures. Meanwhile, a separate survey undertaken by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) suggests that every year in the UK almost 4,000 people die in accidents in the home and 2.7 million turn up at accident and emergency departments seeking treatment.
The authors of both reports suggest that if knowledge of simple first aid techniques were more widespread among primary and secondary school children, the impact and severity of a wide range of injuries and illnesses could be reduced and lives could be saved.
In Scotland, the Learning and Teaching Scotland Excellence Curriculum outcome for health and wellbeing includes ‘I know and can demonstrate how to keep myself and others safe and how to respond in a range of emergency situations.’ In Wales first aid is part of the recommended Personal Social and Educational Framework but is not part of the statutory National Curriculum.
However, in England, amendments to the National Curriculum under Part 6 of the Education Act 2002 and related regulations and statutory instruments would be required to mandate the teaching and refreshing of first aid knowledge in primary and secondary school children.
References and further reading
British Red Cross (2009a) Only nine per cent of UK parents are confident to perform first aid, says British Red Cross survey. London: British Red Cross (Press release, 19 October 2009).
www.redcross.org.uk/news.asp?id=97986
British Red Cross (2009b) No first aid teaching in 1 in 4 schools despite backing from teachers. London: British Red Cross (Press release, 2 February 2009).
www.redcross.org.uk/news.asp?id=91358
Learning and Teaching Scotland, (2010), Curriculum for excellence: health and wellbeing outcome, Glasgow: LTS (number HWB 1-02a).
www.ltscotland.org.uk/curriculumforexcellence/healthandwellbeing/index.asp
St John Ambulance training for young people www.sja.org.uk/sja/young-people.aspx