On the 26th of April 2023, Greater Manchester piloted the country’s first ‘Stop the bleed’ day – a collaboration between Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit and first aid charity citizenAID.

Fourteen schools from across Greater Manchester took part with training delivered to students in years six and seven. Students learned how to identify a life-threatening bleed, how to apply pressure, pack a wound, and use a tourniquet. A total of 1,687 young people were trained to stop a bleed.

Each school was supported by volunteers including doctors, first aid trainers and personnel from the ambulance and fire and rescue services. Students were shown an instructional film and then practised what they had learned – improvising with everyday items that can be used to stop bleeding. The skills taught could be used in a number of scenarios including a stabbing, an accidental injury, a car accident or animal attack.

Before the training, a survey of 140 students undertaken as part of the project, revealed that only 10% of young people would be very confident in giving first aid to a person who was bleeding, but 62% said they would like to learn more about how to stop a bleed.

The day resulted in the following findings*:

• Recognising when bleeding is life-threatening increased from 55% to 88%
• Confidence applying a tourniquet increased from 5% to 92%
• Improved confidence in stopping bleeding from 35% to 90%

*of 1,687 young people surveyed

“A priority for the VRU’s work is early intervention to prevent situations where a young person is harmed or bleeding because of a deliberate attack. But unfortunately there are situations when this does happen, and therefore it is vital that young people know how to act.” – Kate Green, Deputy Mayor for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire.

In 2024, stop the bleed day will be rolled out across the county.

Find out more: https://stopthebleedday.uk/
Watch the video: https://youtu.be/XEhqUH85C-k