Hundreds of potentially life-saving bleed control cabinets across London risk going unused, campaigners fear.
Councils, the Mayor’s Office and businesses are thought to have spent hundreds of thousands on publicly-placed medical boxes designed to treat victims in incidents like stabbings and road traffic collisions.
In theory, when someone dials 999, an ambulance service call handler can give them the location and unlock code for the nearest emergency cabinet.
The emergency medical kits contain items including chest seals, tourniquets and gauze.
But campaigners say it is “unclear” whether London Ambulance Service and the Mayor’s Office (LAS) are truly committed to the scheme after they said equipment should not be kept in locked cabinets. LAS and the Mayor’s Office also said the kits require “specific training”.
LAS has since told the News it would direct the public to the cabinets where clinically appropriate, but campaigners remain sceptical.
When asked the ambulance service could not provide any examples of directing 999 callers to the boxes in a medical emergency, claiming it would take too long to go back through its emergency call history.
First aid equipment company Turtle Engineering claims to have installed between 300 and 400 code-locked cabinets across London, mainly bought by local authorities.
Each cabinet can cost up to £385 and up to an extra £200 for installation, meaning up to £234,000 could have been spent on them across the capital.
Lynn Baird MBE, founder of the Daniel Baird Foundation, which has distributed over 1,200 cabinets across the UK, began her national bleed kit campaign after her son was fatally stabbed in 2017.
“It is unclear how committed London Ambulance Service is to our campaign,” Ms Baird said.
She continued: “Bleed control kits have already been successfully used in real-world emergencies to save lives, demonstrating their importance.”
Lisa Pearson, founder of the Peckham youth charity Let the Youth Live, said she was “shocked” and “disgusted” by LAS’ and the Mayor’s position, especially given the latter had helped fund some cabinets.
Ms Pearson has previously secured funding to install three bleed cabinets and over 100 bleed control kits in her borough, with £10,000 provided by Southwark Council and the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit.
Campaigners have now urged LAS to reconsider its scepticism and called on the Home Office to standardise UK ambulance services’ collaboration with their campaign.
Lynn Baird said: “The Foundation has fed back to the Home Office, urging them to mandate a standardised approach across UK ambulance services.
“We believe this would ensure a consistent strategy for making bleed kits as commonplace and effective as defibrillators.
“Defibrillators were once unfamiliar and uncommon in public spaces but through education and partnership, they are now recognised as indispensable lifesaving tools.”
She added: “We understand LAS’ concerns about training and access to locked cabinets, but we believe these challenges can be addressed through collaboration, public education, and practical solutions.”
A small minority of people can sometimes access the cabinets via the GoodSAM mobile application.
When an emergency incident is life-threatening, LAS will share the details with GoodSAM.
Volunteers with the GoodSAM app downloaded will then be notified and given access to the cabinets.
But only volunteers with LAS-standard training can register with the app – roughly 5 per cent of the population, according to the British Red Cross.
LAS said: “Everyone at London Ambulance Service is working to save lives and care for Londoners. We have some of the fastest times in the country for responding to patients with life-threatening injuries or illnesses.
“But in these emergencies every second counts before an ambulance arrives, and bystanders can make the difference.
“The London Major Trauma System advises the most effective way to help someone who is bleeding is to apply continuous direct pressure to the wound using materials readily to hand.
“When you call 999, the call taker will give instructions on how to do this, either with or without specific equipment.”