At June’s meeting of full council, Birmingham City Council became the first local authority to vote for a roll-out of Bleed Control Packs across the city, ensuring that there was a kit within 3 minutes of every local area centre.
The motion, put forward by Birmingham Local Conservatives, also called for education on the use and availability of “bleed kits” to be produced, and for formal recognition of the work of the Daniel Baird Foundation. The Daniel Baird Foundation was set up by Lynne Baird, whose son Daniel tragically died after suffering a stab wound, but who – professionals told Lynne – could have survived if a basic bleed control kit had been available to the public.
Councillor Ewan Mackey (Con, Sutton Roughley) Deputy leader of Birmingham Local Conservatives, in whose name the motion was submitted, said: “I’m really pleased to see the support for rolling out these bleed kits in cabinets, and as I said in the chamber, if every councillor who said they wanted a bleed kit installed in their ward did so, then I’d feel like we achieved what we wanted to.
“These kits can be the difference between life and death in the case of a catastrophic bleed – and there have been far too many people that we’ve lost for the want of this equipment being publicly accessible. That’s why we need to make sure people are aware of them, and that there is a bleed control pack within 3 minutes of every local centre.
“I was disappointed to see the Labour group try to politicise this issue. Thankfully the other parties supported the spirit of our motion and I think we showed that this can and should be a cross-party issue which we can work together on. It’s too important not to, this is about saving lives.
“When you see the resolve Lynne Baird shows in her campaign to get bleed kits installed, working with the West Midlands Ambulance, West Midlands Police and Fire Service, I think as public servants we owe it to her to do everything we can to help”.
