A kit to control bleeding has been placed at the scene of a stabbing.
The bleed-control kit, mounted in a cabinet on a wall, was installed on Hurst Street, Birmingham where a woman was critically injured in a series of stabbings in the city in September. It follows a campaign by Lynne Baird, whose son Daniel, 26, was killed in a dispute outside a pub in the city in 2017.
The bleed control cabinet, which contains a tourniquet, bandages, scissors and gloves which can be used by members of the public,and isaccessed through a code provided by the ambulance service, is designed to prevent a catastrophic bleed while paramedics travel to the scene of a stabbing.
Working in partnership with the Daniel Baird Foundation, Turtle Engineering designed and built the cabinet in the UK and have worked closely with West Midlands Police on the location of the first installation.
Mrs Baird said she believes the kits could save lives and hopes they will be installed around the country.
“We were delighted with this joint collaboration with Turtle Engineering”, she said. “These public access kits are a vital tool in saving lives, so we are very excited that the UK’s first cabinet containing these kits is now installed in Birmingham.
“We hope this will be the first of many and look forward to seeing more of them nationwide soon.”
West Midlands Ambulance Service chief executive Anthony Marsh said: "When I met Lynne last year, I was moved by her determination not to let other mothers go through what she has had to bear.
"As we see in cardiac arrest cases, every second counts, so the more bleed kits we can get on our city centre streets the better."
Designed to prevent a catastrophic bleed before an ambulance arrives, the bleed-control kit costs £500 fully installed.
