Might a bleed kit have prevented the death of Cody Fisher, a 23 year-old from Birmingham? He was stabbed to death in a nightclub in Digbeth on Boxing Day 2022. Two men were found guilty of murder after Fisher was approached by a group of attackers in masks, who beat him, headbutted him and eventually fatally stabbed him with a six-inch blade in the heart. The attack happened because a couple of days before, Fisher had accidentally knocked into someone in a bar in Solihull.
Fisher’s mother, Tracy, told the press that the venue had “blood on its hands”. She is calling for legislation in his memory, to be named Cody’s Law, to force venues to stock bleed kits and introduce metal detectors after the large knife that killed Cody was smuggled into the club.
Another mother, Lynne, whose 26-year-old son Daniel Baird was stabbed to death in Digbeth in 2017, has been the pioneering force behind making bleed kits more readily available, setting up the Daniel Baird Foundation in memory of her son. She recently met with 12-year-old Ralphie, a stabbing survivor, who used the kit, to see that it can really save lives.
Bleed kits: an extension of basic first aid
Bleed kits are specifically designed for use on catastrophic bleeding. 40% of all recorded homicides in the year ending March 2022 involved knives, according to government knife crime statistics. At the announcement of the verdict of Fisher’s murder, the family of Cody Fisher have called for more awareness around bleed kits that could save lives.
I spoke with Samuel Davies, a paramedic science lecturer at Birmingham City University. He has spoken out about bleed kits in support of Fisher’s family. He emphasised that although bleed kits can be lifesaving and an extension of “basic first aid”, they are not necessarily a one-stop shop to saving a life, but “doing something is better than doing nothing”.
Davies agrees with the victims’ families about the importance of basic first aid skills. He explained: “A bleed kit is a bag that can be either kept in a safe place or is kept in some locations and external cabinets like we see with the defibrillator.
“It contains medical supplies, which are really important for stopping a major bleed as soon as possible. A tourniquet, dressings, gloves and scissors. It basically contains everything that you should need.
“It is a matter of minutes really before someone could bleed to death with one of these injuries.”
Public access bleed kits
The Community Heartbeat Trust have now set up AED defibrillators in over 800 disused phone boxes across the country. Davies hopes a similar thing can happen with bleed kits (but not together with defibrillators) so that they are more readily available for worst-case scenarios.
Bleed kits are now available for public access across the Midlands. In Northampton there are 103 kits, and there are 30 in Derbyshire. There are many other areas now installing kits across the country.
Birmingham City University have them on their campuses and they are being introduced across many local night-time entertainment venues including The Mill, Birmingham, Mama Roux’s, The Mockingbird Cinema, The Rainbow, Birmingham, Luna Springs and many more. West Midlands police have published information and a map to locate your nearest bleed kit.
Education is the key
The West Midlands Ambulance Service ran a training session in April this year and emphasise the urgent need for bleed kits so that bystanders at an incident can act quickly to save a life. “Teaching these lifesaving skills in the community is vital. Bystander intervention being taken before medics arrive can make a crucial difference to the chance of survival where major blood loss is present.”
Davies emphasised the importance of training: “The biggest opportunity to get people confident and competent is within schools, then you’ve got more people gradually coming through that are going to be aware.”
Citizen Aid is offering resources for organisations looking to train staff with bleed kits. He added: “If institutions are going to supply them, they need to make sure that their first aid team and the public is aware of how bleed kits work.” The Daniel Baird Foundation also has training videos on their website.
Davies’s final message is: “Basic first aid skills are some of the most important things for helping these people survive when the bleed kit can be accessed.”
Whilst kits are available with police, event security etc., you should always call 999 Ambulance in an emergency and take the advice of the ambulance service. Do not just go and collect a kit.
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