National database for emergency bleed control kits launches across UK

Credit: Bleed Map/The National Bleed Kit Network

By Olivia Bowthorpe

A national database for emergency bleed control kits has launched, aiming to reduce preventable deaths from catastrophic haemorrhage.

The initiative, called Bleed Map, allows the public to access a kit nearby after calling 999. This approach mirrors the national defibrillator network, The Circuit, and is the first one for bleed kits.

Emergency 999 call handlers can use Bleed Map to direct members of the public to a registered kit.

With effective use, the kits can limit external bleeding, a leading cause of preventable death after trauma. Patients can bleed to death within a matter of minutes, faster than the average ambulance arrives.

The kits contain tourniquets, haemostatic dressings and pressure bandages, designed to be used without medical training.

Overseeing the system is the National Bleed Kit Network charity. They urge anyone with a bleed control kit to register it for inclusion on the interactive map, with access days and times.

Mike Dowson, founding trustee of the charity, said early haemorrhage control could be critical. “The national defibrillator network, The Circuit, is an essential public service that has saved countless lives," he said.

"Now Bleed Map has arrived. Seconds count when a severe bleed injury has occurred, so it’s our mission to make bleed control kits easily accessible in communities across the UK and to help reduce the care gap."

Several ambulance services are already using the system, including West Midlands, East Midlands, East of England, South Central and Welsh services. Bleed Map also shares data with the GoodSAM responder app, alerting any medically trained volunteers nearby who may be able to help immediately.

The project builds on earlier work by the Daniel Baird Foundation, which developed public bleed control kits with West Midlands Ambulance Service after the fatal stabbing of Daniel Baird in 2017. Tens of thousands of kits are deployed across the UK.

Dr Lynne Baird MBE, Daniel's mother and founder of the Foundation, said: “West Midlands Ambulance designed these kits and has demonstrated the gold standard in helping to raise awareness of the importance of life-saving bleed control kits. Bleed Map is a significant development in amplifying these efforts across the whole of the UK."

If widely used, haemorrhage control in the community may improve patients’ medical state on arrival to hospital, with an impact on transfusion urgency and overall outcomes.

A short youtube video shows how Bleed Map works in practice. To date, 3,780 kits are registered.

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