In the UK, St John’s Ambulance – and to a slightly lesser extent, British Red Cross – are widely known and are probably the market leaders in first aid training. They are a national charity and do more than first aid training – they provide medical cover at events, sell their own branded first aid equipment and kits, run Badger and Cadet groups for young people to learn vital first aid skills, provide specialist patient transfer services, and have a free app and online resources.
Are they a good charity? In my opinion, absolutely. They do valuable work and support our creaking NHS. However, all of this has to be paid for somehow. Providing first aid training at high prices is one of the ways they raise funds; but do they provide you with anything more than a course run by a private provider? Are their training services worth the extra cost?
The HSE allows first aid training under 4 different systems. Each is equal in their eyes and therefore meets the requirements of the Health and Safety Act 1974 and other relevant legislation. Training providers need to demonstrate that they are competent to deliver first aid training and have relevant quality assurance processes in place – the first three options below meet this requirement by virtue of the fact that their systems require it in order to register. The fourth option is slightly more contentious!
1) Voluntary Aided Societies – these are St John’s Ambulance, British Red Cross and St Andrew’s First Aid (Scotland)
- They offer places to individuals on courses at their own venues and, although nationwide, there are only 3 in Wiltshire. Group courses are available but pricing isn’t readily available to view.
- Training offered by these societies are not qualifications, and there can be some variations in the quality delivered across the organisation due to its size.
- Prices are high, probably because they are funding their training centres and other business activities as well as paying for the training itself – and they can afford to charge high prices because everyone knows their name. Their current Emergency First Aid at Work cost for individuals is £195 (+VAT) – versus £65 (no VAT) per person on Winterbury Training courses.
- Their published course content is exactly the same as that offered by centres under (2) and (3) below. However, as they are not bound by the requirements of a qualification, guidance and competency-based assessments may vary from qualification courses and from trainer to trainer.
2) Centres registered with an Awarding Organisation, delivering qualifications regulated by Ofqual
This is the route Winterbury Training has chosen to use.
- Qualifications are awarded to learners who meet the course requirements, and all centres are required to have an Internal Quality Assurance system in place, with some Awarding Organisations also requiring External Quality Assurance reviews of standards of teaching and learning and practical assessment decisions.
- Trainers are required to hold a teaching qualification (minimum Award in Education and Training Level 3) and a first aid qualification (minimum First Aid at Work.)
- The Awarding Organisation is answerable to Ofqual and therefore must be able to demonstrate quality systems are in place.
- Some training centres choose to have their own premises whilst others hire public venues.
- Centres usually pay the Awarding Organisation a fee per certificate processed, so this must be accounted for in the course cost.
- Smaller individual centres are often more able to respond flexibly to the needs of a business using their services than national organisations (NB there are national organisations using this route, too).
3) Centres registered with the First Aid Industry Body, delivering accredited courses but not regulated qualifications
- Centres register each trainer and pay an annual fee; they are then able to print certificates at no further cost.
- Training qualifications are carefully checked (as in (2) above) to check trainers hold all required accreditations to train.
- The certificate awarded is not a qualification, but is accredited by FAIB.
- Quality Assurance systems are in place; they are less stringent than some Awarding Organisations but in line with others.
- Training centres can be more flexible in their approach if they wish; the course content is set and controlled but can have bolt-on topics, for example. Courses available are limited to physical first aid.
- As certificates are not payable per certificate this can lead to cost savings which may be passed on to businesses buying their services, but this needs to be balanced with the lack of an official qualification which may be seen by some as being less quality controlled.
4) Other providers
- ANYONE can set up as a first aid training provider, including running training ‘in-house’.
- However, it is then incumbent upon the organisation using such a trainer to do their own due diligence checks to ensure that:
- The content is appropriate, aligns with qualification content, national standards are met, e.g. UK Resuscitation Council guidelines for CPR, and competency is assessed to the same standards
- Trainers have the necessary skills, qualifications and competencies
- Quality assurance systems are in place, reviewed annually and carried out by qualified third parties
- Class sizes are appropriate
- Certificates have the required information
- Equipment used is suitable and sufficient
- Training meets minimum contact time
The fourth option therefore requires a lot of work on behalf of the commissioning business to ensure they are competent to deliver the course and the training business will need to be able to satisfy all of the above requirements. Therefore, in most cases, businesses would choose to use one of the first three routes as these come with the requirements already met.
To be REALLY clear, the HSE accepts any of these routes and sees them all as equal (provided due diligence checks in option 4). Therefore, the course content, length of training, quality assurance, trainer qualifications and all other information relevant to a business should be the same and thus the expensive cost of the Voluntary Aided Society courses confers no significant advantage over any other route.
However, there may be advantages for businesses to use a training centre as outlined in (2) and (3) as well as a lower cost. For example, Winterbury Training offers:
- Bespoke courses, tailored to individual organisation needs. Whilst this may not be a qualification (unless we cover all of the course content AND more), organisations can be assured that the training they are receiving is delivered by a trainer who undergoes strict quality assurance and is qualified to deliver courses;
- Courses outside of core working hours, maximising business continuity and minimising disruption;
- Places on open courses to allow smaller numbers of staff to be absent at any one time OR group training on dates and times convenient to the organisation
- Courses can be delivered in several sections e.g. over two or three dates;
- Blended courses, where part of the course is completed online via an approved e-learning programme, allowing more flexibility.
I hope this provides you with information to make an informed decision about the training provider you engage to deliver your first aid training – but at the end of the day, the most important factor is an appropriate group of confident first aiders with solid skills, whichever method you choose!
Further information from the HSE on selecting a training provider can be found here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/geis3.htm.
