First aid training for police officers is to be increased significantly, with a greater focus on saving lives
First aid training updated for police officers
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The updated first aid learning programme (FALP) will mean that officers now receive at least 12 hours of first aid training and a refresher course each year.
The new FALP curriculum has learning and recommendations following the Manchester Arena Inquiry, including training on:
- management of catastrophic bleeding
- assessment of the seriousness of a person's injuries within 10 seconds – known as the 10-second triage – so officers can help the most seriously ill first
- recognising and managing acute behavioural disturbance (ABD), which is an umbrella term for complex and potentially fatal conditions and is a medical emergency
Using the NHS's 10-second triage will bring policing into line with other emergency services.
Alongside these additions, the curriculum still includes training on dealing with stab wounds, acid attacks and giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Forces must use the new curriculum by the end of April 2025.
So with the first aid learning programme [FALP], we've increased the training time for all officers, be that as part of initial training and refresher training or modules. And we’ve rebalanced things towards life-saving interventions – so the things that have been drawn out of recent experiences through incidents, investigations and inquests – really emphasising to cops that the basic life-saving skills are the most important things.
It's been a two-year process to redesign the FALP from ground up, taking into consideration feedback from healthcare professionals, ambulance services, frontline officers, first aid trainers – bringing all that together, consulting with forces, with National Police Chiefs’ Council, with the College to prepare a package that hopefully will see cops fit for operational duties.
The development of ten-second triage started in late 2019, and policing has been involved from its very beginnings and through all of its developments up until now.
The ten-second triage is an early-scene triage tool, essentially, which is a framework for any first responders to a scene to allow them to prioritise life-saving interventions and then prioritise the patients for ongoing treatment and evacuation.
The first duty of all police officers is to preserve life, and on a daily basis officers are keeping people safe and responding to life threatening incidents. Our improved first aid training will make sure officers have the skills and knowledge needed for their challenging and complex role.
Many brave officers respond to serious incidents every day and do their utmost to save lives, but we know they have sometimes not been as well equipped as they should have. This new training will mean officers have a specific input that equips them, as first responders, with the skills they need to keep people safe.
The feedback so far has been incredibly positive and we’ll continue to work closely with forces as the new training is rolled out.
Gaynor Wardle, Head of Specialist Operations at the College of Policing
Improvements to the first aid training are part of an uplift in the standard and quality of training provided for frontline policing. The updates follow improvements to personal safety training for officers.
