Latest Partnership Statement
9th February 2026
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust and Avon and Somerset Police said: “We recognise Shanine Wright’s positive and profound impact following the tragic loss of her brother Darrian in February 2024. Her efforts to provide her local community with life-saving equipment and raise awareness of knife violence demonstrate her unswerving passion to protect others from harm.
“The Avon and Somerset Bleed Kit Partnership was set up to provide essential first aid equipment in key public locations in the event of a catastrophic bleed. The bleed kits are immediately accessible to the public in unlocked cabinets. They are designed to stop or slow blood loss, improving a patient’s chances of survival before the emergency services arrive.
“The partnership, guided by the clinical expertise of the South Western Ambulance Service, seeks to bridge the gap between injury occurring and professional help arriving. When a 999 call is received regarding a person bleeding heavily, call takers can escalate the call to gain clinician support, and the caller can be directed to a bleed kit if one is local.
“To date, we have installed 742 partnership kits in key public locations across Avon and Somerset, and they have been used 13 times. While they are often associated with knife crime, they can be used in any incident involving severe bleeding, such as road traffic collisions or workplace accidents.
“To ensure our partnership kits are readily available to the public, cabinets remain unlocked at all times, and each one is assigned a community ‘guardian’ to monitor it. For extra protection, neighbourhood police officers also check them as part of their patrols.
“If a kit is used, stolen or damaged, a volunteer driver from Avon and Somerset Police will be alerted to replace it as soon as possible. While a kit is out of service, it will be automatically removed from the mapping function used by emergency call handlers. The partnership’s ongoing legacy fund means that we will replace or repair any of our emergency bleed kits at no extra cost to the owner.
“While bleed kit provision plays a part in preventing tragedy in our communities, tackling the root causes of knife crime, safeguarding vulnerable children, and delivering vital knife crime education and prevention initiatives remain a priority.”
Notes For The Reader
- Although there is currently no official guidance on the use of bleed kits, the South Western Ambulance Service has been innovative in seeking ways to bridge the gap between injury occurring and professional help arriving. New national guidance is due in the spring this year.
- The South Western Ambulance Service has created a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to be used within its Emergency Operations Centres for when a call is received regarding a person with catastrophic bleeding. As part of the SOP, call takers can escalate the call to gain clinician support, and the caller can be directed to a bleed kit if one is local. We are also able to direct callers in techniques to control bleeding without available equipment, ahead of an ambulance arriving on scene.
- The South Western Ambulance Service has added a critical care clinician to its Emergency Operations Centres. These senior clinicians make proactive contact with ambulance crews to support the care they provide to patients with catastrophic bleeding before specialist assets arrive on scene.
- The South Western Ambulance Service has created a freely accessible action card that can be included within all bleed kits, which is colour-coded and matches the 999 call taker advice, to provide extra clarity in times of extreme distress for those calling 999.
- The South Western Ambulance Service believes that publicly available life-saving equipment should not be locked away, including defibrillators and bleed kits.
- The South Western Ambulance Service’s Emergency Operation Centres do not map any bleed kits. However, the Avon and Somerset Bleed Kit Partnership has a mapping function on an external site, which means any emergency service control room can access it. This increases reach and potential impact. We encourage people to register their bleed kits via the partnership, so our call takers can direct people to them in an emergency.
