UKC

Not sure where to post this, went for beginners . . .

I used to be a first aider for motorsport marshalling and its come in handy a few times while out climbing.

Because there is always medical folks nearby at race meets I was thinking I need to update my skills to more outdoor / remote specific context - where I have to deal with the incident, possibly for many hours. Seen you can do these 1 and 2 day wilderness first aid and wonder if folks think they are worth it (some are not cheap)

Fairly new here (UKC) so I don't know if this might be against any rules, feel free to contact me direct rather than post in this thread

I did one with a chap called George Fell a few years ago, really good delivery and he was a nice bloke to boot.

I would strongly encourage doing some practical scenarios as well, the difference between people who have done a typical St John's FAW course those who have done something like REC 2 is significant (there is a big emphasis on doing something that is mostly right in REC 2 while FAW gives less leeway to that and people can be a bit hesitant.

Have a look at the EFAW plus Forestry , Foresty England / Commissson will most likely give you a grant towards some/ all of it. 

Not sure where you are based but Google Chris Gartland training and drop him an email , decent bloke 

I did a two day one last year with Mike Raine that was good, lots of hands on practical stuff. https://www.mikeraine.co.uk/firstaid

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Having worked in the outdoors for all of my career (40 years), I have done a huge variety of first aid tickets through a number providers:

Those around in the 80s will remember the Dr Ieuan Jones “particularly gory” slides. The 64 hour wilderness first responder in the US was pretty comprehensive for those really remote settings that I was working in at the time, contrasted with some fairly basic first aid at work from St John’s Ambulance when I returned to the UK and was about all that was available then.

For the past 15  years I have maintained a current qualification through First Aid Cumbria (Kendal area) Pete Cunningham runs a really good Outdoor First Aid which includes about 8 hours of online work ahead of the practical 2 day programme to put this knowledge into action for the sorts of settings in which outdoor people find themselves.   https://active-aid.co.uk/coursedetail.aspx?id=6565&cf=quicksearch.

Can highly recommend this course as Pete brings it all to life in a way that is understandable, practical and memorable.

I've done one every three years for the past ~25 years and don't think I've used the same provider twice due to moving around. Out of those Mike Raine (who Alex already mentioned) stood out as being by far the most practical and probably the only one I'd recommend with no caveats.

cant post a link in here as it would be seen as a commercial post.

have emailed you.   i am running a 2 day  outdoor first aid course next weekend, just of J37 of the M1

Personal experience

Wilderness/Austere
WEMSI, Remote Risk International, and WEM are the really solid providers 5 star of Wilderness Med with Wilderneess First Responder (WFR) and Wilderness EMT syllabus. These are 'full on' courses over 7-8 days (and the evenings). WEMSI is a life changing experience has something like 15 faculty specialists teaching and coaching on a course with 20 delegates...Remote Risk is pretty much the same. All 3 have massive true depth in the faculty and teaching. All are at about FREC4+ level applied in austere environment. The biggest and most important thing IMHO is the quality and volume of scenarios...a chance to do lots, make mistakes learn and start building muscle memory (as in reality unless you are in organisation that deals with casualties youll have massive skill fade.) There are some that sell a 1-2 day course with the word 'Wilderness and 'Expedition' in the title...they arent Wilderness or Expedition!
Outdoor FA
IMHO A solid really well done 16 hour outdoor first aid will give you pretty much everything useful for UK activities ... and is built on using what you've got in your head and in your pockets/sack. Worth asking your provider how many casualties they have actually ever dealt with.  (alot are outdoor instructors who will be lucky if they see a casualty once a year). Counter to this Tim Cain runs MedREC and is has been in MR for years.
Reality is most of the time its having the immediate simple lifesaving interventions (if you are unlucky enough to need them) but mainly stabilising/comfort and sitting and waiting for MR (that has the resources and manpower to extract).