Skip to content

Lifesaving bleed control kits installed across Avon and Somerset area

Avon and Somerset Police 5 police officers stood next to a bleed kit which has been installed on the wall behind them. There are 4 women in the image and 1 man. All of them are stood in a line, smiling, looking directly at the camera.Avon and Somerset Police
Avon and Somerset Police are working with NHS England South West and HeartSafe to install 144 bleed kits

More than 140 bleed kits are being installed in communities in an effort to prevent "tragic loss of life".

Avon and Somerset Police, NHS England South West and HeartSafe will install the life-saving kits across the region.

Each of the 144 kits contains dressings and tourniquets, nitrile gloves, scissors and an instruction guide.

Ch Insp Mike Vass said that in the event a person is seriously injured, they hope the kits will go some way to help saving someone's life.

The kits are being installed onto the side of existing HeartSafe defibrillators in Bristol, Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

Ch Insp Vass, Avon and Somerset Police's knife crime lead, said: "We know we cannot police our way out of serious violence, it has to be a partnership approach, not just between us and our partners in health and social care, but also with members of our communities who can play a key part in helping us."

Avon and Somerset Police A green defibrillator on a wall. A red bleed kit box has been installed next to it. It reads "Emergency bleed kit to stop blood loss" with the 999 emergency number and NHS logo underneath in white letters.Avon and Somerset Police
The bleed control kits are installed next to defibrillators

The project was first initiated by Clive Setter from HeartSafe who said: "The bleed kits will provide some initial emergency aid to those in need before an ambulance arrives at the incident and will help to avoid a potentially tragic outcome."

The kits are designed to control bleeding in an emergency situation where someone is suffering from a catastrophic bleed, whether it is from an assault, a fall or a road traffic collision.

People are being reminded they should always call 999 and ask for the ambulance service in a life-threatening emergency, but the kits are designed to be easy-to-use in the moments immediately after a medical emergency.

Dr Michael Marsh, NHS England's South West medical director, said: "NHS ambulance crews and trauma teams do a great job when confronted with a patient who's losing a lot of blood, but we wanted to go further in those crucial minutes when an ambulance was still on its way.

"That's why we're so pleased to fund bleed kits, so the police and community partners can get them to the right places to save lives - many of them young."

Presentational grey line

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]