Into the final lap for the annual camping trip preparation.
Can't find our old first aid kit so need to start again. Does anyone know if a high street retailer is the best way to go these days or is is best to DIY and buy the bits and bobs yourself?
There are some not bad value smallish basic first aid kits on the market.... look in Ebay or check Tesco (seen some in there).
But to be honest, look on this site (or others like it) and there is a complete first aid kit designed for a workplace of 10 people (so ample for a family) and it's only £8.95, which is a bargain (I bought all the kits for my workplace and spent much much more than that)
Homemade for me bought ones are small cute and very nearly useless
In mine Plasters various sizes and plenty of them as cuts and grazes don't disappear in an hour
Savlon, Calamine, Aspirin, Antiseptic wipes ( box of ten and still never enough ) Dettol
all the usual stuff. Bandages finger guards ( for Mallet Finger )
Keep it in a tool box with a plastic see through lid with dividers and keep the Plasters and wipes in there so I can see and get to them immediately .
------------- Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
What would I do without?? ....not a lot, but I'm an advanced first aider and have been for many years, so my kit is quite well equiped and wouldn't look out of place in an ambulance. But of course you don't neccessarily need all that just a basic HSE Workplace Kit has all the essentials.
I prefer homemade too, have found with ready prepared ones that there are things I wish had been in there and wasn't (can't think what off the top of my head LOL)
Don`t forget some sting / bite cream. I use Benadryl cream, it drys and stays on even when washed over and seems to work great on the deadly midge bits !
------------- Life is one big holiday, only broken up by as little work as possible
Do your own! Some of the kits are really overpriced,with less of the stuff you use a lot,and loads of stuff you are hardly ever gonna use[or need to be trained to use]
I agree with others - make your own up as some of the commercial first aid kits are very dinky and will have a "token selection" of bits. If you speak very nicely to your local chemist he/she may be able to help you out. Our local chemist sells dressings etc individually and are inexpensive. We have three first aid kits (house,car,caravan - wife is a nurse,I'm an advanced first aider) and two of these I made up by going to B&Q and buying one of their own brand tool boxes with lots of compartments. Don't forget to include a small torch,lots of plasters,antiseptic wipes and disposable gloves.Also worth having a look at the St John Ambulance/Red Cross basic first aid manual. Better still, go on a basic first aid course to learn how to use the stuff!
I bought a basic HSE kit as they have just about every type of dressing you could want.
However they don't contain drugs of any sort so you have to add whatever you need - pain killers, Benadryl, something to stop you going , something to make you go ! and a variety of creams - what wouldn't I do without? Flu Direct!
I've made my own up too. I used a kids lunch box, and put all the dressings, gloves, tweezers, scissors, eye bath etc. in, plus the things which you never get in a bought kit - paracetamol, Imodium, Ex-lax, flu powders, Ibuleve, anticeptic, bite & sting cream, Savlon, Clove Oil (for toothache), sore throat tablets & Rennies.
I've used a first aid bag that I have in the house. It's a bit overkill really, but as we're off to France in 2-and-a-bit weeks, I wanted a cover-all-eventualities kit for both the French requirement to carry and the likelihood that some minor ailments will present themselves.
So, my list includes:
Gauze dressings - various sizes plus self adhesive types
Bandages - ditto inc. triangular
Gloves - med & large
Sterets --> mix of Antiseptic & Alcohol types
Bite & Sting cream + antihistamines - inc. Piriton syrup*
Antiseptics: Germalene, Savlon, Savlon spray, Dettol/TCP Face shields
Plasters - various sizes - inc. m-doc - get em from Boots & yes, they're ace. Kiddy plasters
Steri-strips if I can find some
Shears/strong scissors & tweezers Saline
Micropore tape
Safety pins
Painkillers: Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, Ibulieve gel, Junior disprin, calpol, soluble aspirin & anything known specifically to work on members of your party
Cotton wool
Burns dressings, Cool Gel & clingfilm
Blisteze, lip balm
Alka Seltzer, Immodium, Dioralyte, Rennies
Vomit bags Thermometer of some description
*A note on Piriton syrup: make no mistake, this is far and away the most rapid antihistamine your average man/woman in the street can get into someone. I've seen 5ml save a life!! Worth it's weight in gold.
You might think my kit is overkill, but I like to be prepared for almost anything.
I'll also be taking OP airways, a penlight torch and my own steth & sphyg cuff.**
If you don't know first aid, go on a course. Red Cross, I think, do them for free & St.John courses are excellent for minimal outlay. If you don't have time for that before you go, buy a First Aid book/manual. Go into Waterstones or somewhere, look through a bunch and see which one makes most sense or is easiest to read, absorb & understand.
Try & make sure someone other than you can also do the biz.
I bought a basic RAC one from Home Bargains £2.99 but I do have other stuff seperatly such as bite cream (used to have really really bad reactions to bites as a kid!), savlon and painkillers. They can't sell painkillers in 1st aid kits any more as if someone has a reaction the company that makes the 1st aid kit can be sued!
Oh and I 2nd the Piriton liquid medicine I know it has really helped me before!
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Topic: First aid kits: DIY most cost effective?
, something to make you go ! and a variety of creams - what wouldn't I do without? Flu Direct!
