Ribble Valley Medical Team 

A key objective of our organisation is to substantially increase the number of local people with first aid skills. The European Reference Centre for First Aid Education has highlighted that the United Kingdom has much lower numbers of people with first aid skills than other parts of Europe. In the UK, it is estimated that at most 10% of the population have first aid skills, whereas, in Germany, the figure is 80% and in Norway 95%.
Accidents and life-threatening medical emergencies often happen in places we feel the safest - our homes. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents states that 5,000 people die as a result of accidents in the home, and 2.7 million attend hospitals every year. It is clear that people need up-to-date first aid skills to react in those first few minutes after an incident. Another factor to consider is that the NHS ambulance service has an ever-increasing workload, and with an ageing population, this is likely to increase further, putting strain on the service, which can affect response times. This may mean the first aider has to care for the patient long before the arrival of professional help.
In the case of sudden cardiac arrest, when breathing and the heart have stopped, staying calm, contacting the ambulance service and performing resuscitation are vital in giving the collapsed person the chance of life.

At Ribble Valley Medical Team, we are passionate about training people to develop the vital first-aid skills they need to help a family member, friend or work colleague. We offer two types of training.
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The first is our FREE Community Training: Those attending included pupils in school, youth organisations, community groups, charities, and the public through open courses in local towns and villages.
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The second is workplace first aid training designed to meet the requirements of the Health & Safety First Aid Regulations 1981. This training includes the one day (6-hour) Emergency First Aid at Work course, the Initial three day (18 hour) First Aid at Work Course and the two Day (12-hour) First Aid at Work Requalification Course. We can also provide workplace defibrillation training on our 4-hour course.

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Our price structure for Workplace is based on 'donations' - we aim to provide quality training, producing competent first aiders at a reasonable price. This, we hope, will encourage employers to train more of their staff, which in turn will result in more trained first aiders in the community at large. All profit from these courses will be re-invested into the charity so as to develop our services further.