In England and Wales last year, there were over 45,000 knife crime offences. If you witness a knife attack, having the knowledge to stop the bleeding could allow you to save a life.

Current Advice

Guidance from the American College of Surgeons and the British Red Cross has been combined into the flowing flow chart shown below.

If you observe life-threatening bleeding, following these steps can help to minimise the damage.

If you have followed these steps but the person looks pale, feels cold or is dizzy they might be going into shock. How to address this:

• Continue to apply direct pressure to the wound

• Remember to call 999 if you haven’t already

• Position the patient lying down with their feet higher than the rest of their body to increase blood flow to the brain and heart

• Keep them warm using coats or blankets and reassure them

Do’s and Don’ts

• DO reapply a fresh cloth if the original one is soaked through with blood

• DO raise the injured area if possible to reduce the blood flow to the wound

• DON’T remove an item embedded in the wound

• DON’T wash a heavily bleeding wound

How Our Future Device Could Help

We are designing a device to enable a responder to quickly provide hands-free direct internal pressure and allow them to deal with other wounds the patient may have.

Our device is designed to stabilise patients quicker than current solutions to allow quicker transportation to hospital and reduce the blood volume lost by the patient.

Once the patient reaches hospital our device is designed to be easily deactivated to allow a simple removal process. This should reduce the complexity of the required surgery and reduce the time the patient spends in theatre.

• ACT Medical’s award-winning medical device aims to save the lives of stabbing victims by stemming bleeding from knife wounds. Follow ACT Medical on LinkedIn for latest updates or email hello@actmedical.co.uk to speak to us directly.