Hansard

I, too, congratulate James Dornan on securing time for this debate, which gives us an opportunity to congratulate St Andrew’s First Aid on the work that it does in general and, in particular, its latest campaign during first aid week this year.

I got my first first aid certificate with St Andrew’s First Aid when I was in the scouts, as David Torrance did. The scouts and other uniformed organisations do a fantastic job in helping to support young people to recognise the value of first aid. Over the years when I was involved in mountain rescue, I completed various mountain first aid courses, which usually had to be reassessed every three years, and I have witnessed first hand how good-quality first aid can save lives. It can also help to reduce further injury to someone who is already injured. Its value cannot be overestimated.

As Nanette Milne mentioned in her contribution, there was a debate to celebrate the 2012 campaign this time last year. Then, there was a focus on whether loved ones, whether or not they know much about first aid, would be able to give someone the kiss of life should circumstances arise in which that would be appropriate.

It is good to be able to recognise the work of St Andrew’s First Aid and to help it to promote its message on helping to save lives. I also recognise the valuable contribution that it, with other organisations, will make in 2014, which will be a significant year. In that year, which will be a hugely exciting time for Scotland, the eyes of the whole world will be watching us, with the Commonwealth games taking place in Glasgow, the Ryder cup and the year of homecoming. I have absolutely no doubt that the organisers of those events will work with a range of first aid organisations to ensure that they are effectively covered with first aid support.

From the Scottish Government’s perspective, the Scottish Ambulance Service is clearly at the heart of the issue in providing immediate emergency care. It works closely with a whole range of partners to support wider community provision, including voluntary organisations such as St Andrew’s First Aid.

In last year’s debate, which celebrated first aid week 2012, I mentioned some of the important work that goes on in local communities, including that by community first responders, who can provide vital early support prior to an ambulance arriving in the course of an emergency—that is particularly important in some of our more remote areas—and the community resuscitation development officers, who recruit and train community members to provide such care. I also mentioned the public access defibrillators in a range of locations, which Rhoda Grant referred to, supported by local training and awareness of how they can be used and where they are located, and the first aid training that takes place in schools and community groups.

All of those things support the bigger objective of delivering better outcomes and experiences for those who require support from first aid at a particular time. They can also help to reduce the need for someone to be admitted to hospital and help to support and create greater resilience in communities, particularly some of our more rural and dispersed communities. First aid training is hugely important to supporting our communities.

As an organisation, the Scottish Government has a range of first aiders within the workplace. There is a network of first aiders across all the Government’s offices and they are usually trained by St Andrew’s First Aid. To date, the Scottish Government has 251 trained volunteers in its offices.

Members might recall the campaign that was run last year by the British Heart Foundation that had a television advert featuring Vinnie Jones. When someone suddenly collapses and is not breathing normally and is unresponsive, they might have suffered a cardiac arrest. The advert advised members of the public not to worry about giving the kiss of life during CPR but to concentrate on giving good, fast chest compressions to the tune of the Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive”. That was an innovative and fun way of getting across a serious message about helping to ensure that someone who has experienced cardiac arrest gets the necessary swift care.

Turning to the specific focus of the St Andrew’s First Aid week, I was interested to see the online pledge that is the focal point of this year’s campaign. The pledge seeks 34,000 signatures, one for each of the people each year who are taken to hospital for treatment in Scotland. We would like to see that number reduce dramatically. That can be achieved by awareness raising and accident prevention in the home, the garden and the community as a whole.

The Scottish Government and a range of partners that we work with recognise the importance of encouraging young people to have fun and explore without wrapping them up in cotton wool. However, it is important that we ensure that parents, friends and carers are confident about dealing with the scrapes and bumps that can happen when children get involved in different activities. That is why the Scottish Government works with a range of organisations, such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Barnardo’s and Volunteer Development Scotland, which all have different initiatives to help to support young people, parents and carers to have the right skills to deal with those who have accidents.

I offer the Government’s and my personal thanks for the work that first aiders across Scotland do day in, day out. Their dedication and efforts should, rightly, be recognised because they provide an extremely important service in our society. I also offer my congratulations to all those who will be recognised at the first aid awards this Saturday.

I finish with a challenge: we should all go home tonight and suggest to someone we know, someone who lives with us or a friend that, if they do not have basic first aid skills, they might want to look into getting them, because we never know when they might be required.