‘I asked Walsall Council to make a life-saving kit in a park publicly available - but they took it away’

A retired ambulance worker has hit out at Walsall Council after it removed a bleed kit from a major Bloxwich park.

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The bleed kit had been stationed on the pavilion building at King George V Playing Fields for several years.

But as regeneration of the site commenced in recent weeks, the bleed kit was initially locked away behind fencing.

Bloxwich man Steve Podmore raised the issue with Walsall Council last month, expecting the life-saving equipment to be relocated and made accessible to the public.

But instead the council removed it altogether.

Steve launched Mossley Heart Start after retiring from the NHS last year, offering free basic life support and bleed kit training to adults and children across Walsall.

He feared the bleed kit at King George’s was still registered on a national emergency services database despite being inaccessible.

It would have meant anyone calling a 999 operator for a trauma related incident would be directed to the bleed kit that is no longer there.

Walsall Council has confirmed that the King George’s bleed kit has been deregistered from the national database.

Steve has called for the life-saving kit to be made available to the public again.

He said: “It’s a heavily used activity park. There’s the kid’s Park Run on a Sunday, the Saturday and Sunday morning football clubs, there’s lots of activities.

“There’s nasty dog bites, people can fall and land on the broken glass that’s left there, it’s not just about stabbing and gun wounds.

“Just because there’s building work going on it doesn’t mean they should take the life-saving equipment away. The kit should be in that park.

“If somebody has a major arterial bleed in that park they can be dead in minutes.

“The whole idea is that you don’t have to wait for paramedics. We’ve got this equipment that the community can use and it should be available.”

Steve said staff and councillors in Walsall have become ‘despondent’ with the upcoming local elections.

He said: “Everybody within the council has given up. I was talking to someone not so long back, he was that despondent. Morale is very low.

“If I worked for the healthy spaces team I’d have done anything to make sure that bleed kit was put back.

“I couldn’t sleep knowing that it was locked away, yet for the people responsible, it doesn’t seem to affect them that way. It’s very irresponsible.”

Walsall Council is reviewing whether there is a suitable interim location for the bleed kit while works are ongoing at the park.

A spokesperson for Walsall Council said: “King George V Playing Fields is currently undergoing significant regeneration works.

“To allow these works to be carried out safely, the bleed kit is being temporarily removed and deregistered, so that emergency services do not direct people to a location affected by construction activity.

“Once the regeneration works are complete, the bleed kit will be reinstated and re‑registered with its updated location details.

“The council recognises the importance of bleed kits and is reviewing coverage of kits across the borough, including whether there is a suitable interim location while works are ongoing at King George V.”