Training

All Community First Responders are trained by their respective ambulances services, ours being the East of England Ambulance Service.

The initial training takes place over 5 days and includes a mix of practical and theory sessions.  Courses are held at different region locations, to help ensure volunteers do not have to travel too far. On passing the course, new volunteers will be awarded the FREC-3 qualification; a nationally recognised certificate, allowing responders to move to different areas and take the qualification with them.

The training course covers, but is not limited to:

• Introduction to Community First Responders

  • Introduction

  • Recruitment

  • Training and Skills

  • Incidents that First Responders attend

  • Accountability and responsibility

  • Confidentiality

  • Equipment

• Basic Life Support

  • Use of an automated external defibrillator

  • Oropharyngeal airways

  • Suction

  • Recovery position

• Oxygen Therapy

• Management of Medical Conditions

  • Patient assessment

  • Choking patient

  • Chest pains

  • Breathing difficulties

  • Asthma

  • Hyperventilation

  • Reassuring a conscious patient

  • Control of bleeding

  • Fitting patient

  • Allergies

  • Diabetic emergencies

  • Stroke patient

• Responder Safety and Risk Assessment

  • Keeping yourself safe

  • Travelling to and from an incident

  • Parking

  • Safe driving

  • Communications

  • Incident report forms

  • Adverse incident reporting

  • Critical incident debriefing

  • Infection control