Injury Minimization Programme for Schools (I.M.P.S.)

Accidents are the most common cause of death in young people. In 1997 over 450 children died as a result of accidents and 2.4 million attended A&E departments with injuries. Many of these accidents and injuries were preventable.

In response to these statistics a team from Oxfordshire, led by Professor Keith Willett, Professor of Trauma at the John Radcliffe Hospital, developed the Injury Minimization Programme for Schools (I.M.P.S.).

The aim of I.M.P.S. is to reduce death and disability as a result of accidents and give children basic first aid skills. The programme targets children between the ages of 10 and 11 who statistically are at greatest risk, and it has been awarded a 'Laser' award by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA).

I.M.P.S. is taught both in school and in hospital environments, linking in with the school curriculum. Every week groups of Year 6 children from Oxfordshire visit the John Radcliffe, Horton General, Witney, Abingdon and Townlands Community hospitals to learn basic resuscitation, what to do if someone is choking or unconscious and how to prevent accidents happening in the first place.

A boy from Witney wrote a thank you letter to the team after his new skills helped him save the life of his three year old brother:

He started to choke and stopped breathing, so I patted his back where you told us to... If I hadn't been on an I.M.P.S. course I wouldn't have known what to do. Torch, Summer 2009

Contact us

Oxford I.M.P.S.
Tel: 01865 743476
Email: imps@ouh.nhs.uk
Website: www.impsweb.co.uk