Life saved by critical bleed control kit

Martin Shipton

A man who was bleeding to death was saved after quick-thinking passers-by used a £90 emergency medical kit.

The man, who is in his 50s, was suffering catastrophic bleeding from a ruptured varicose vein in his leg in Llanelli when a call was made to 999 for an ambulance to attend urgently.

But the caller was told by a 999 control handler that the estimated response time was 20 minutes.

The call handler consulted a Bleed Map, showing the exact locations of the Critical Bleed Control Kits in the town, which were installed by Llanelli Town Council.

The nearest kit was located in the defibrillator cabinet at the nearby town council headquarters in the Old Vicarage, Town Hall Square.

A tourniquet from the kit was applied to the man’s heavily bleeding leg by a first aider alerted to the emergency who was nearby, successfully stemming the blood loss until an ambulance arrived at the scene of the midday town centre drama.

The man was rushed to Prince Philip Hospital, where he made a full recovery from his injury last month.

Four lives have been saved in south Wales since the Critical Bleed Control Kits initiative was introduced, spearheaded by Melanie James, a former High Sheriff of West Glamorgan.

She launched a major public safety campaign with Mumbles-based charity Heartbeat Trust for fast emergency access to military-grade gloves, specialised dressings and a tourniquet with simple instructions.

The vital lifesaving kits were championed in Llanelli by town councillor Shaun Greaney, who won the backing of council colleagues for the kits to be sited in eight council-owned and maintained publicly accessible defibrillator cabinets in parks and council buildings for medical emergencies in the town.

He praised the unnamed first aider for their speedy actions.

First aid skills

“This is a great good news story. A life has undoubtedly been saved by a Community NHS Provider with first aid skills who followed ambulance call handler advice to apply the vital tourniquet to stem the catastrophic bleed in time,” said Cllr Greaney.

“This successful medical intervention proves the need for numerous kits – and suitably confident people – to save lives of people who have suffered severe trauma, from road accidents, falls, dog bites and knife crime.

“Melanie James’s initiative has resulted in 650 kits being distributed across south Wales, which is an incredible achievement.

“I am sure I speak for the whole of the town council when I thank her, the Heartbeat Trust, and the quick-thinking first aider who came to the man’s rescue.

“I hope Carmarthenshire County Council and other public-serving organisations will soon join in this fantastic, and cost-effective, way to increase public safety and save lives.”

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