Officers and NHS staff take part in KnifeSavers training

More than 100 officers and staff from Merseyside Police and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust have received training on bleeding control.

The training was delivered by non-for-profit organisation KnifeSavers, which originates from the Liverpool University Hospitals Foundation Trust.

Nikhil Misra, a trauma surgeon at Aintree University Hospital set up KnifeSavers in 2019 to educate people about the dangers of a single knife wound and teach them how to deal with an injury that can take a life in as little as five minutes. Nikhil is also the Health lead for the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership (MVRP).

This partnership initiative coincides with the force’s wider work to tackle knife crime, which includes high visibility foot patrols in serious violence hotspots, test purchase operations, the deployment of knife detection arches, search warrants and utilising a range of police powers such as stop search and Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs).

This enforcement work goes hand in hand with prevention and working alongside the Violence Reduction Partnership and Safer Schools Team to educate communities about knife crime and run early intervention schemes.

Officers from Liverpool’s Targeted Policing team took part in the training alongside the School Health Team from Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.

The training aims to help improve survival rates from knife wounds by educating and empowering people on how to act quickly to control major bleeding from any injury using specialist bleed control kits.

KnifeSavers has delivered this vital training to more than 1,700 people in the last year, including organisations, members of the public and young people.

The kits – containing scissors, gloves, tourniquets, trauma dressings, military-grade gauze and chest wound sealant – have been distributed to hundreds of organisations and venues across the region including clubs, bars and pubs, taxis, and schools, and are available at bleeding control cabinets across Merseyside.  

Liverpool Targeted Inspector Stuart McLoughlin said: “As police officers, we are often first on the scene after a knife incident so it’s vitally important that we, alongside healthcare partners and the wider public, can provide timely emergency first aid, which ultimately could help save someone’s life.

“A huge amount of work is going into preventing knife crime, as we know the devastating impact is has. This initiative with KnifeSavers and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is critical to the wider work we are doing to reduce knife incidents and keep offensive weapons off our streets.”

Liverpool Targeted officers, alongside NHS colleagues at the KnifeSavers training

Sue Barratt from School Health Liverpool, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust said: “It is brilliant that we have the opportunity to be supported with training delivered alongside our Police partners. This builds upon our working relationships and increases multi-agency awareness of roles. It is vital that School Health are equipped with the knowledge delivered through this session in order to refer to in the event of any emergency whilst working or in their personal lives."

Dr Nicole Russell, Co-Director and Education Lead at KnifeSavers said: “We know that early effective bleeding control is essential as it can take as little as 5 minutes to lose a life from major haemorrhage. This collaboration with Merseyside Police allows officers to be equipped with the knowledge and skills required as frequent first responders on scene. We welcome this engagement and the ongoing work to make our communities safer."