Background

SPORTS FIRST AID FOR GOVERNING BODIES, SPORTS CLUBS AND FITNESS AND LEISURE CLUBS

A programme to ensure safer sport:

Each year there are almost 20 million reported sporting injuries in the UK. Between 150-160 people die and many more are disabled for life. Ina report produced for the Sports Councils for England, Scotland andWales during 1991, it was calculated that over 3 million injuriesremained untreated. Year on year, these figures have remained substantially unaltered.

As part of its overall commitment to help the sporting community, The National Stadium Sports Medicine Centre seeks to make sport safer. We aim to do this through improving the first aid knowledge and skills of people involved in sport and exercise, e.g. athletes, coaches, referees, teachers and even the parents of children engaging in sport. The Sports First Aid Course was originally devised by the National Sports Medicine Institute with the backing of national sporting bodies, and validated by The Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine(UK) to tackle the problemat grass roots level. It is the onlyn ationally recognised qualification in Sports first Aid in the UK. The Sports Medicine Center is a validated and endorsed provider of thiscourse.

The Minister for Sport, UK Athletics, The Scottish Rugby Union, The British Paralympic Association, The National Council for School Sport,The National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations as well as anumber of Governing Bodies of Sport, have endorsed the course.

The roles and responsibilities, both legal and moral, of those who arequalified to work with those who exercise make appropriate first aid provision an essential part of “best practice”.

We  envisage that the end result of improved sports first aid trainingwill be that the very first person present after an incident has occurred will be capable of administering appropriate emergency aid,saving potentially life-saving time. This is of particular benefit when sports leaders accompany sporting teams out with their usual environmentor where the sporting environment itself has limited first aidfacilities.

Sport and exercise is now recognised as a major benefit for health and government, both local and national, has become proactive in tryingtoin crease exercise participation at all levels in the community.With this in mind it is now incumbent upon those who promote exercise and provide leadership, coaching and the necessary facilities forthose encouraged to exercise to ensure appropriate levels of firstaid knowledge.