On Wednesday 12th February former trauma surgeon Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst, Member of Parliament for Solihull West & Shirley, sponsored a Stop the Bleed training session for Members of Parliament and advisors in collaboration with the CitizenAID charity.
Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP has seen first hand the devastating effect of knife crime, with too many lives lost and families shattered as a consequence. That is why saving the lives lost to knife crime is one of Neil’s priorities in Parliament.
When injury occurs swift action is critical to stop the bleeding and save a life. CitizenAID is working hard to empower members of the public with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to save a victim from bleeding out. Much like the previous campaign on CPR, if a critical mass of citizens knows how to treat a victim thousands of lives can be saved. A person can bleed out in 5 minutes and the average arrival time for an ambulance is 8 minutes showing a need for public training.
This has been CitizenAID’s mission as a charity since its formation in 2016 in response to public preparedness to deliberate attacks. CitizenAID is a West Midlands based charity with national reach formed by a group of pre-eminent injury care experts with backgrounds in the military, healthcare, and the police which has taught thousands of school children these lifesaving skills.
CitizenAID provides free public information, publicly accessible equipment, a free emergency app, and educational materials for all age groups from primary school through to senior citizens. The work of the charity to prepare the public was praised in the evidence and final report of the Manchester Arena Inquiry. The charity has awards for innovation, business resilience, and counter-terrorism. Their collaboration with St John Ambulance and National Counter Terrorism Security Office set the national standard for Public Accessible Trauma (PAcT) kits.
CitizenAID’s Stop the Bleed campaign started in 2023 in schools in Manchester and has been repeatedly delivered in the West Midlands for the wider public with the support of West Midlands Ambulance Service. There are initiatives in other major cities, and they plan to expand across the UK.
Following the training session delivered by CitizenAID, Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP said:
Young lives are being lost due to knife crime, leaving families shattered. On too many occasions during my medical career, I treated young people who had been the victim of stabbings and other violent crimes.
I brought Members together to raise awareness of the Stop the Bleed campaign so together we can enhance public resilience to deal with a knife injury and help save lives. I would like to thank CitizenAID for their time and for delivering this excellent and lifesaving training.
In Parliament, I have also been scrutinising Government policies on reducing knife crime. Recently, I welcomed the Government’s decision to commitment to halving knife crime within a decade. However, I challenged the Solicitor General to provide specifics details on how they will reduce violent crimes.
In my constituency, I am fundraising for The Daniel Baird Foundation to fund more defibrillators and bleed kits by walking the Solihull Way in the Spring.
Donations can be made to Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP’s fundraiser via the website https://gofund.me/34acfa37
