Potentially life-saving Public Access Trauma (PAcT) first aid kits are to be provided to public venues across the county as part of a Lancashire Resilience Forum supported scheme based on recommendations from the Manchester Arena inquiry.

PACT kits will provide equipment such as dressings, tourniquets and bandages and are primarily designed for members of the public to help stop a catastrophic bleed if someone has suffered a serious injury, prior to paramedics arriving at the scene. 

Better provision of first aid equipment was among the recommendations to emerge from the Manchester Arena inquiry and this scheme, which will also include some holdalls containing multi-casualty PAcT kits and canvas stretchers, will support that call. 

More than 300 PAcT kits are being distributed across the county in publicly accessible locations such as shopping centres, railway stations, food outlets and various night economy and entertainment venues.

 Neil Williams, who represents the Resilience Forum, said: "We hope the equipment is never needed but regardless of the cause of the incident, time matters when dealing with catastrophic bleeds.

 "Prior to the arrival of professional emergency responders, access to immediate life-saving equipment for use by members of the public or first responders can significantly increase the survivability of a person by preventing substantial blood loss.

 “The PAcT kits will be available for any person to use regardless of their level of training.

 “We are really grateful to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government who have provided the funding through the Lancashire Resilience Forum for the PAcT kits.’’