Portsdown View care home in Bedhampton recently installed a ‘Bleed Control Pack’ in the home donated by Havant Rotary Club as part of a life-saving scheme to make emergency medical equipment available to local people in a crisis.
Designed to be used when somebody is suffering from serious blood loss while waiting for emergency services, the specialist pack contains vital equipment including haemostatic gauze, trauma dressings, tourniquets, medical shears and protective gloves. Together, these can help control a catastrophic bleed and buy valuable time until professional medical help arrives.
The donated pack forms part of Havant Rotary Club’s wider ‘Make Havant Safer’ campaign, which aims to make such vital equipment readily accessible across Havant and the surrounding area. In addition, Portsdown View has also purchased a second pack which it plans to donate for use elsewhere in the community.
Graham Smith, President of Havant Rotary Club, said:
“We were delighted to donate a bleed control pack to Portsdown View Care home in Bedhampton and also so pleased and grateful that they also purchased a second pack which they are going to donate to the local community. It is good that they are prepared to support our local community. We look forward to work with them.”
Havant Rotary Club first became involved in the national Bleed Control Kits campaign after members met Dr Lynne Baird MBE at a Rotary event. There, she shared the tragic story of her son Daniel, a 26-year-old who was stabbed outside The Forge Tavern in Digbeth, Birmingham, following a night out with friends in 2017. With no specialist equipment available, Daniel passed away shortly before arriving at hospital.
Determined to ensure other families would not have to suffer the same devastating loss, Lynne went on to establish the Daniel Baird Foundation in her son’s memory. The organisation campaigns to make Bleed Control Kits widely available in public places and raise awareness of how they can save lives. By early 2026, it had distributed more than 30,000 emergency kits to public places across the UK.
On hearing Daniel’s story, Havant Rotary Club set out to bring the same life-saving equipment to Havant and the surrounding area. Led by member Trevor Nightingale, the Club began by donating packs to local secondary schools before extending the scheme to other organisations. Portsdown View joined the effort by hosting a kit at the home and purchasing a second to donate locally.
Stella Austin, Customer Relationship Manager at Portsdown View, comments:
“When we first heard Daniel’s story, it was truly heartbreaking, and we instantly knew how important it was to spread these packs far and wide. We all know that terrible things can happen – and when a serious injury occurs, it is crucial to know that emergency medical supplies are just a short walk away. Hopefully this pack will never need to be used, but if having it here provides peace of mind to just one person in the local community, then it will have done its job.”
Portsdown View is part of the Connaught Care Collection, a provider of luxury care homes with six locations across the country. Recently, the home was rated Overall Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in its first ever inspection, with inspectors praising the home’s “exceptional” kindness, empathy and compassion.
For more information, please contact stella.austin@portsdownview.co.uk or call 02393 882154.
