New First-Aid Classes Are Planned Amid Soaring Numbers of Teens Stabbed

School pupils are learning how to treat stab wounds amid a surge in violent crime in Britain.

Children are taught first aid and how to speak to emergency services following a stabbing in lessons arranged by charity StreetDoctors.

In sessions lasting up to an hour and a half the pupils use visual props to explain the science behind blood loss and how to apply pressure to a wound, the charity says.

Youngsters also take part in role play scenarios to prepare for a crisis, amid an ongoing political battle over the causes of rising violent crime.

The charity says on its website that it aims to ‘change the lives of high risk young people by giving them the skills they need to deliver life-saving first aid’ in vulnerable areas.

It also teaches young people how to treat unconscious people by putting them in the recovery position and delivering chest compressions if they have stopped breathing.

In recent days the charity’s volunteers have worked with children in Wolverhampton and south London to deliver the lessons.

StreetDoctors said they had taught 4,000 young people last year and were aiming to reach more in 2019.

In one scheme the charity has partnered with Norfolk’s police and crime commissioner to educate young people about knife crime.

The charity said when the partnership was launched last year that it wanted to ‘equip young people with the skills, knowledge and confidence to act in a medical emergency’.

Knife crime has returned to the political spotlight this week after two 17-year-olds, Yousef Makki and Jodie Chesney, were stabbed to death in less than 24 hours.

There were 285 fatal stabbings in England and Wales in the year ending in March 2018, the highest figure since records began in 1946.

There have already been 10 teenagers knifed to death since the start of 2019.

Theresa May has faced a backlash over her claim that there was no direct link with cuts in police numbers.

The PM was branded ‘delusional’ after denying a connection between violent crime and cuts to police numbers dating back to when she was Home Secretary.

Britain’s most senior police officer Cressida Dick insisted there was is ‘obviously’ a connection between reductions in officer numbers and street violence.

Meanwhile former Met Commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe called for 20,000 officers to be recruited and demanded that ministers ‘get a grip on the crisis’.

The number of police officers in England and Wales has dropped by more than 20,000 since 2010, and levels of violent crime have risen in recent years.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has said the military would be ‘ready to respond’ if asked to help play a part in tackling knife crime.