Fourteen crew members of Bude Lifeboat have recently undertaken the RNLI's new first aid course.

The new course was developed by one of the sea survival and first aid trainers at RNLI headquarters, Poole, and instead of a traditional syllabus based on diagnosis, the new course is based on what the crew member sees and therefore knows — a symptom based approach. It has been approved by the British Paramedic Association and the Anaesthesia, Trauma and Critical Care group.

Crew members are asked to decide if someone is 'big sick' or 'little sick.' Simplified 'big sick' means the casualty could die soon of lack of oxygen or no circulation whilst 'little sick' means not going to die — yet!

Treatment is aided by a set of waterproof check-cards that use flow charts, rather than heavy text, that covers aspect of injury, illness and immersion and even triage for when casualties outnumber first aiders.

The course was ran at the Lifeboat Station in eight three hour evening sessions over two weeks by former Bude lifeguard and retained firefighter Grant Walkey now one of the sea survival and first aid trainers at Poole.

The course is 75 per cent practical and crews must carry out over 30 casualty assessments, answer two multiple choice papers and demonstrate competence in practical scenarios, these included a drowning casualty at iron bridge by the lock gates with an awkward 'know it all' bystander and a gas bottle explosion at the bottom of the steps by Life's a Beach with multiple casualties.

Grant Walkey said: "The crew at Bude lifeboat station successfully undertook the new bespoke First Aid for Lifeboat Crew course which is non-diagnostic and symptom based with theory and application based around a strong casualty assessment and a 'what can we do' approach.

"The course includes new methods of treatment working with various pieces of new medical equipment and working from a check-card system. All the crew performed very well and being an ex-Bude lifeguard myself it was great to see how far the crew had come and I was very proud to be a part of training them."

Lifeboat Operations Manager, Chris Cloke who also completed the course, commented that he was impressed by the exceptional volunteer commitment shown by the crew to complete this intensive course.

He said: "It is particularly reassuring with the busy summer season approaching that we are able to ensure we have a fully trained crew on board the lifeboat ready to competently deal with any emergency or accident situations that they find themselves in."

The course is approved by the British Paramedic Association and the Anaesthesia, Trauma and Critical Care group.