South Northants Community Responders to bid for bleed kits to be deployed across the county

A first responders volunteer group will be meeting with Northampton Town Centre BID in hopes of adding bleed kits to high-footfall areas of Northampton, as well as those less travelled.

South Northants Community Responders (SNCR) will be making the proposal. It is made up of a group of volunteers who have been trained by East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS) to provide emergency medical aid to people living in the local community.

However, the SNCR stress that they do not replace the professional service. Rather, they render aide in the time it takes for the professional service to arrive.

In this spirit, the group has turned their attention to making bleed kits, also known as bleed control kits, more readily available in Northamptonshire.

The kits usually contain medical supplies like gauze, bandages and seals that can be used to control or stop serious bleeding, such as from stab wounds or injuries sustained in road traffic collisions. Controlling the bleeding early can be key to saving an injured person's life.

David Smith, who is the scheme coordinator for SNCR, will soon be attending the meeting with Northampton Town Centre BID where he will pitch bringing these kits to key areas of Northamptonshire. He also hopes that signs will be displayed on the windows of places that house them, similar to how defibrillators are displayed currently.

He said: "Knowing the importance of having a defib in the community, we can then go a step further with also having public access bleed kits. The importance of having the bleed kit accessible to the public is to aid in the treatment and hopefully the recovery of the patient.

"Of course we would like to expand having the kits further out into all communities as they are not just for use in high footfall areas. We are currently working with a parish council who has purchased two new defibs, cabinets and bleed kits as they want to provide that support in the parish.

"We are not taking the focus away from having defibs in the community, as they are also important. But having a cabinet with a defib and bleed kit together enhances the chances of survival."

The meeting will take place on Tuesday, November 30, with the hopes of getting a rapid new deployment for the kits.

Anyone who is interested in the group can email [email protected] or visit their website.