People Urged To Help Ease Pressure At A&E

A campaign has been launched to help ease increasing pressure on our region's A & E departments.

Hull's emergency unit has experienced a big rise in admissions this winter and last week patients were asked to use alternatives.

St Johns Ambulance has now stepped in to try and help reduce unnecessary hospital trips by offering first aid support and advice to people over Christmas and New Year.

Fred Owen from the Hull branch of the charity says many household emergencies don't require a hospital visit. He told Viking FM:

"If you look at what the A & E departments have to deal with, a lot of it is very basic first aid. If you have sprained an ankle, there are basics things you can do like rest it, elevate it and that would just be enough. If you've got a basic scrape, bump or graze you could just clean it with some warm water.

"Just basic first aid can save a life but more importantly at Christmas time we can reduce admissions into A & E. Everybody should know first aid and nobody should suffer from being around the lack of first aid and that's our aim, to get the message across to as many people as possible that a little bit of first aid is very important.

"We've got some volunteer trainers and they'll be training members of the public and if people want to know more about doing first aid, then we can do some very simple life-saving skills in just a few hours of your time.

"Less than 20% of people in this country know any first aid and we would like to see every school child taught about first aid so that people grow up and they know what to do. In this country we don't put enough emphasis on those life-saving skills."

Training Manager for St John Ambulance Northeast, David Nicklen, said: ‘So much of our work is about the importance of learning first aid, so that people can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved, but it’s also important to know the basics, such as how to deal with cuts, bruises and other minor injuries. ‘Many household emergencies can be dealt with in the home and don’t need a trip to A&E – especially at such a busy time of year. ‘A little first aid knowledge can go a long way and, if you’re stuck for a New Year’s resolution, how about booking onto one of our first aid courses, where you can learn even more skills? ‘Everyone who needs it should receive first aid from those around them and we believe that no one should suffer for the lack of trained first aiders.’ Hull's first 2015 community first aid course will take place from 9am to noon on January 31. For more information on first aid courses or how to become a volunteer, visit www.sja.org.uk or call 08700 10 49 50.