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Manchester Attack: Thousands sign up for first aid training

@thesixthformB6 students practice first aid on dummies@thesixthformB6
The scheme was set up after calls for more first aid training

More than 6,000 people have taken first aid training in two months in Greater Manchester as part of a campaign to boost life-saving skills.

The scheme was launched in May on the fifth anniversary of the Manchester attack, which killed 22 people in 2017.

It was set up by St John Ambulance and BBC Radio Manchester following calls for more first aid training.

The station's editor, Kate Squire, said: "We look forward to see the number rising even higher."

Dr Lynn Thomas, medical director at St John Ambulance, described the response to the Three Ways to Save a Life campaign as "truly phenomenal".

"First aid really can save lives, and it's amazing to see the focus that local people have in learning these simple techniques," she added.

PA Media Freya Lewis running at Great Manchester RunPA Media
Freya Lewis credits a couple who knew first aid for saving her life after the 2017 attack

The recent public inquiry into the 2017 attack, in which a suicide bomber also injured hundreds of people, found many first aiders and police officers working at Manchester Arena on the night did not have sufficient first aid training.

A report commissioned by the family of the youngest victim - eight-year-old Saffie-Rose Roussos - suggested she might have survived if she had received better first aid from medical crews.

A separate 2018 report into the wider attack also found members of the public were among the first to help victims but did not always have the requisite skills.

It led to charities calling for compulsory first aid training in schools, which was implemented in all state-funded schools in England by the government in 2020.

St John Ambulance Comedian Tom Mayhew receives training from a St John Ambulance workerSt John Ambulance
Comedian Tom Mayhew was among those who learnt first aid in the campaign

Freya Lewis, who was 14 when she was injured in the attack, said a couple who knew first aid and applied pressure to her wounds with a coat "kept me alive".

"Even the simplest thing can help someone massively and help save a life, if you just go to one course, one lesson," she said.

Training sessions across the region will be available until the end of 2022 and can be booked by emailing [email protected].

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