Dear Customers,

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Given the current situation with COVID-19 together with advice from the Government and HSE, we have postponed all our planned courses until safer times.

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The Health and Safety Executive and Department for Education have released a statement, which extends the validity of various qualifications by 3 months, including Emergency First Aid at Work, First Aid at Work and Paediatric First Aid.

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The coming weeks and months will be a challenge for us all, but we are confident we will be able to return to the task, and continue to provide the high level of training you have come to expect from us.

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In times like these we're reminded of what’s most important, so to all our valued customers, we’d like to send our best wishes to you and your families, and assure you that we are here to provide any assistance you may need.

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Yours, sincerely,

Patrick Keogh

22nd March 2020

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COVID-19: Statement from HSE and DfE relating to certificate expiry

 

Health and Safety Executive statement

 

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is aware that people holding Offshore Medic (OM), Offshore First Aid (OFA), First Aid at Work (FAW) or Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) certificates nearing expiry date, might experience disruption to access to requalification training as a result of events or circumstances generated by the coronavirus pandemic.

 

If however requalification training is prevented for reasons associated directly with coronavirus or by complying with related government advice, it is reasonable and practical to extend the validity of current certificates by up to 3 months. Anyone taking advantage of this extension should be able to describe clearly their reasons for delaying requalification training, and demonstrate steps they have taken to undertake the training, if required.

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This guidance comes into effect for certificates expiring on or after 16th March 2020. HSE will review this matter over the coming months and will issue further statements as necessary.

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Department for Education statement

 

The Department for Education supports the HSE statement regarding the extension of first aid certificates during coronavirus emergency and that it can be applied to paediatric first aid certificates held by staff in early years provision.

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New Anaphylaxis legislation

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New legislation allows “spare” emergency adrenaline auto-injectors in schools. New legislation was passed in Westminster this week to allow schools in the UK to keep spare adrenaline auto injectors (AAIs) for emergency use. AAI devices deliver a potentially life-saving dose of adrenaline in the event of a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis). The legislation comes into effect from 1 October 2017.

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Key messages from UK Resuscitation Guidelines 2015

• Ensure it is safe to approach the victim.

• Promptly assess the unresponsive victim to determine if they are breathing normally.

• Be suspicious of cardiac arrest in any patient presenting with seizures and carefully assess whether the victim is breathing normally.

• For the victim who is unresponsive and not breathing normally:

  • Dial 999 and ask for an ambulance. If possible stay with the victim and get someone else to make the emergency call.

  • Start CPR and send for an AED as soon as possible.

  •  If trained and able, combine chest compressions and rescue breaths, otherwise provide compression-only CPR.

  •  If an AED arrives, switch it on and follow the instructions.

  •  Minimise interruptions to CPR when attaching the AED pads to the victim.

  • Do not stop CPR unless you are certain the victim has recovered and is breathing normally or a health professional tells you to stop

• Treat the victim who is choking by encouraging them to cough. If the victim deteriorates give up to 5 back slaps followed by up to 5 abdominal thrusts. If the victim becomes unconscious – start CPR.

• The same steps can be followed for resuscitation of children by those who are not specifically trained in resuscitation for children – it is far better to use the adult BLS sequence for resuscitation of a child than to do nothing.