Public access bleed control kit bag in place in Alkrington

Pervaiz Akhter, proprietor at The Downs Village Store, is keeping an emergency catastrophic bleed control kit bag on site

A public access bleed control kit bag has been put in place at The Downs Village Store in Alkrington, Middleton.

The kit comes as part of a new campaign, Stop the Bleed Middleton, which is aiming to get bleed control kits installed across every part of Middleton.

Bleed control kits contain pressure dressings, gauze bandages and tourniquets, and have been designed to help increase the chances of survival following significant blood loss. If someone is bleeding very heavily and the haemorrhaging isn’t stopped, they can die in a matter of minutes.

The kit bag will be held at the shop until a 24/7 access bleed control box arrives and is installed.

Bleed control kit bags are registered with the emergency services and a 999 operator can talk the user through user. None of the medical devices in the emergency bleed control kit require training to use.

Campaign founder Bernard Wynne said: “A special thanks goes out to Pervaiz Akhter, proprietor at The Downs Village Store, for offering to keep an emergency catastrophic bleed control kit bag on hand in case of a bleed emergency.

“Please be sure to let people know the emergency kit is in the village store and is available for the public to use should the need arise.”

Whilst the kits have been associated with knife crime, they are not specifically for victims of knife crime: bleed control kits can be used by anyone to stop bleeding as a result of injuries or accidents (such as a nasty cut from a fall) – or even if someone has a condition which causes them to bleed more than usual.

The Downs Village Store, The Downs, Middleton, M24 1TT,  is open 7 days a week, from 8am to 9pm.