Author: Katie Gamlin

Qualsafe voted the UK’s Best Business (SME) 2018 by the Best Business Awards!

We are delighted to announce that Qualsafe has been voted the UK’s Best Business (SME) 2018 by the Best Business Awards!

The Best Business Awards attracts a wide range of organisations from across all sectors, from large international companies and public sector organisations to dynamic and innovative SMEs. As one of the UK’s highest profile awards, we are incredibly proud to have won this prestigious accolade as it speaks volumes about the quality and integrity of our organisation.

“Qualsafe is an agile, innovative publishing and qualifications company that has raised standards of training in first aid, health and safety and pre-hospital treatment to platinum level.”

As an innovative organisation, we pride ourselves on providing our customers with the highest quality publications and qualifications, as well as being dedicated to improving the standards of training in the UK. Our customers’ needs are at the heart of everything we do, and our commitment to continually push boundaries has seen us develop new and innovative products, as well as qualifications in order to ensure our customers have everything they need to deliver platinum standard training.

An independent panel of judges had the following to say:

“By bringing out award-winning and market-leading new training products and qualifications, Qualsafe has seen strong, steady growth. Its e-learning for first aid trainers is exceptional and ensures that they are kept up-to-date with new practices. Well done to Qualsafe for raising standards in first response training and helping to save more lives.”

From all the team here at Qualsafe, we would like to extend a special thank you to all of our customers, whose continued support has been a key factor in us winning this prestigious award.

In the Media: Improvised Tourniquets

Here at Qualsafe Awards, we love to hear about how people have used their first aid and CPR training to help save lives. With all of these great stories now hitting the headlines on a more frequent basis, we are even more delighted when we hear about how members of the public are able to use their newly learnt tourniquet skills to save lives too.

Just at the start of this month, Qualsafe Awards Trainer, PCSO Matthew Kieboom took part in a Trainer workshop on catastrophic bleeding at his Centre, Dyfed-Powys Police, so that the topic could be introduced into their first aid courses. Just one week later he found himself having to use his skills to save the life of someone suffering from a severe arterial bleed after cutting their arm on glass. Remembering his training, Matthew was able to create an improvised tourniquet from just his belt and a spoon (from a nearby house) and kept the casualty alive until an ambulance arrived.

Matthew had the following to say:

 “I cannot stress enough how effective the tourniquet can be – even a Blue Peter version – with what you have to hand or nearby…

“In this incident, because we were so close and the tourniquet was applied so quickly, the casualty not only stayed alive but remained conscious.”

Following the arrival of the Ambulance Service, the casualty was rushed straight into life-saving surgery and is now making a full recovery. To read more on this heroic story and how Matthew Kieboom’s improvised tourniquet saved a man’s life, simply click here.

The heroic stories don’t stop there. Also hitting the headlines recently was Tom Dorman, and how he was able to save his own life by showing bystanders how to improvise a tourniquet from a jumper. You can read more on Tom’s story here.

With stories like Matthew’s and Tom’s becoming more and more frequent, it really goes to show how important learning these life-saving skills can be, and how introducing management of catastrophic bleeding to your first aid courses can mean the difference between life and death.

Show your support to add first aid and CPR to the National School Curriculum in England!

Did you know that the government has revealed plans to add first aid and CPR to the national school curriculum as part of wider Health Education Classes in England from 2020?

The draft legislation, which was published on 19th July 2018, proposes that teachers talk about the steps that pupils can take to protect and support their own and other’s health and wellbeing, including learning basic first aid. You can view the full draft legislation, by simply clicking here.

With out of hospital cardiac arrest survival rates being up to three times higher in countries where first aid is taught in schools compared to the UK, this landmark move could save thousands of lives each year!

A public consultation, which is due to close on 7th November 2018, asks for individual views on the proposed legislation and statutory guidance, as well as whether or not it provides sufficient information and support to schools in teaching the subject. Simply click here to participate today.

By showing your support and responding to the consultation, you can ensure that this landmark move takes a step closer to becoming a reality and help increase the number of people trained in life-saving CPR!