St John Ambulance  has launched a new campaign encouraging parents to learn first aid after a survey showed over half of parents lack basic first aid skills.

In the film, a boy and his father play in a garden as the mother seemingly looks on through the kitchen window. The boy climbs a tree but a branch breaks and he falls to the earth with a sickening thud. The shocked mother runs out of the kitchen as we hear that she is a St John Ambulance volunteer, with the first aid knowledge to save lives. But as she reaches the garden we realise she has no connection to the father and boy after all and has rushed out to take her washing in from the rain…meanwhile in the empty park the boy is unconscious with the dad screaming for help, as viewers are implored to find out how to save the boy.

Viewers are urged to visit sja.org.uk/savetheboy/ to learn the first aid needed to ensure he stays alive. These are the basic first steps required in any first aid emergency.

The campaign comes after research from St John Ambulance shows that:

• half of parents (55%) lack the skills necessary to save their child
• more than 1 in 5 (21%) parents don’t view knowing first aid as being important
• 62% of parents say knowing first aid skills would make them feel more prepared for parenthood
• 65% of parents say the thought of their child needing immediate first aid intervention makes them feel worried
• more than a third (37%) of parents said their child has had an accident that’s needed immediate first aid intervention whilst on holiday – nearly half of those parents did not have the skills to help their child.

The campaign has caused some debate over the accuracy of the first aid advice given in the film. Several comments on news websites and first aid forums have suggested that moving the boy would be dangerous due to the potential risk of a spinal injury. However St John Ambulance have responded saying the first aid advice shown in the film follows the Resuscitation Council UK advice that all unconscious people should be placed into the recovery position.

Have you seen the St John Ambulance advert? What did you think? Will more people learn first aid?