First Aid to go on School Curriculum for the first time ever...

The British Red Cross have won their battle to get the government to include First Aid on the school curriculum in England and Wales. It follows their 'Life. Live it' campaign last year with the lessons starting this September.

As well as the regular life-saving techniques, students between the ages of 14 and 16 will be taught how to deal with knife wounds.

A survey commissioned by the charity into the first aid knowledge amongst 11-14 year olds found that 41% of young people would have removed the knife from the wound, actually increasing blood loss and 6% would have pressed down on the knife to stop the bleeding.

The need for these sorts of lessons has never been so crucial with the East Midlands recording 1,316 knife crimes last year. Nottinghamshire accounted for more than a third of incidents in the region, with 548 incidents from April 2007 to April 2008. That's compared to 294 in Leicestershire and 187 in Derbyshire.

HEART spoke to Sue Russell, Volunteering Advisor for the Red Cross in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire about the benefits of these lessons. "Everybody learns better when they're younger and first aid is a life skill that will stay with people throughout their lives so the sooner we can introduce life-saving skills to young people, the less people will die unnecessarily prematurely."

Below is British Red Cross advice on how to deal serious bleeding and knife wounds.

• Always call 999 first.
• Make sure it is safe for you to approach.
• The main aim is to stop the bleeding. If possible, minimise contact with blood by using disposable gloves if you have them, or clean plastic bags.
• If something is imbedded in the wound, such as a knife, do not remove it as it is stemming the blood flow. Don't press on it, press firmly on either side of the object.
• If there is nothing stuck in the wound, apply pressure directly to the wound, using clean material like a t-shirt or clean towels.
• Raise the wound above the level of the heart to help stop blood loss and continue to apply pressure.

Sue finished by adding that these lessons do make a difference. "I had a young person that I taught on a first aid course in Belper (Derbyshire) last October/November and she came into one session and she said I did it I saved a life last week. It was actually a drink related incident but just by knowing what to do she'd been able to keep a friend of hers from dying."

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