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First Aid

When treating the public and employing staff, it’s essential to have the correct First Aid provisions within your facility to keep everyone safe and save lives in the event of an emergency.

Here is the link for the guidance on your obligations as a business: https://www.hse.gov.uk/firstaid/legislation.htm

Health & Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981

Your Licensing Environmental Health Officer may ask if you have completed First Aid training. The HSE recommends that businesses with fewer than 50 staff members should have at least one qualified and appointed First Aider.

First Aid courses can last anything from half a day to 3 days. The half-day courses are not usually accredited, so it’s highly recommended to at least complete a full day of First Aid training.

These regulations also require that every employer provides equipment or facilities for providing First Aid to their employees. Even if you don’t have employees, having a First Aid Kit to hand when required is good practice.

You will be required to have:

  • First Aid box
  • Eyewash Station with single-use pods
  • Accident Reporting Book onsite at your clinic.

Your First Aid Kit Essentials

Number of Employees

 1-5 6-10 11-50

Contents

 QTY QTY

QTY

First Aid Guidance Notes

 1 1

1

Individually wrapped sterile adhesive dressings

 20 20

40

Sterile Eye Pads, with attachment

 1 2

4

Sterile triangular bandages

 1 2

4

Safety Pins

 6 6

12

Medium sized sterile unmedicated dressings

 3 6

8
Large sterile unmedicated dressings 1 2

4
Extra Large sterile unmedicated dressings 1 2

4

 

First Aid boxes must not include any form of medication, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen.

As an extra precaution you may want to include an adrenaline auto-injector in your First aid kit in the rare event of a client suffering from Anaphylaxis.

Emergency First Aid Training

Keeping treatments and clients safe should be a top priority for any therapist worth their salt. That is why I believe that you should be prepared for as many possible outcomes & scenarios as you possibly can. This mantra has led me to qualify as a First Aid instructor and offer my own Emergency First Aid courses. I want to help therapists better establish the specific safety needs within the clinic, not only does a first aid qualification protect the client, but it also protects YOU from any allegations of negligence. I have also specifically added an additional module to study the protocol when taking A.C.T.I.O.N. for anaphylaxis. Whilst anaphylaxis is rare, this training is vitally important in our field due to the range of products that we work with and could save a life should the worst happen in your clinic.

To truly become a holistic and ethically balanced therapist, addressing the mental health aspect of first aid and patient safety is also key. You can undertake my Mental Health First Aid course as and addition to your training, where we will discuss how you should approach vulnerable members of the public from consultation to treatment and ongoing support. We will also look into the signs that perhaps you should refuse this client and how to do that with kindness within an ethical boundary.