Bleeding Control Kit Checklist: Is Your First Aid Kit Adequate for Major Bleeding?

Most household first aid kits are built for small injuries: plasters, a bandage, maybe some antiseptic. That is fine for a graze or a kitchen cut, but it leaves a gap. If someone in your home or on your street is bleeding heavily, the kit needs to do a different job: hold firm pressure on a large wound, keep covering it if blood soaks through, and protect you while you help. The test is simple. Does your kit support the treatment of major bleeding, not just minor cuts?¹

The core of a bleeding control kit is not complicated. You need larger sterile dressings, bandages you can wrap firmly, disposable gloves, and something to cut clothing away from a wound². If you want to go further, a haemostatic dressing and a tourniquet are the specialist additions, and they come with conditions on when they should be used⁴. What matters most is that you know what to do before you open the kit: call 999, apply pressure, and follow the instructions of the person on the phone³.

This checklist sets out what to add, why each item matters, what to do first while help is coming, and how to keep the kit ready. It is written for an ordinary UK household with no medical training. You do not need to be a clinician to hold a dressing on a wound, but you do need the right items within reach and a clear idea of the order to do things in.

Bleeding control kit checklist: what to add to a household first aid kit

Start with the standard household kit and then add the items that make it capable of handling serious bleeding. The government's Be Ready guidance lists the basics every home should have: waterproof plasters, bandages, a thermometer, antiseptic, eyewash solution, sterile dressings and gloves, medical tape for dressings, and tweezers⁹. St John Ambulance's guide to what a first aid box should hold adds small, medium and large sterile gauze dressings, triangular bandages, crêpe rolled bandages, safety pins, scissors, alcohol-free cleansing wipes and sticky tape¹¹.

The bleeding-specific additions sit on top of that list. Here is the full checklist, with the reason for each item.

1. Disposable sterile gloves. These protect you from contact with blood and protect the casualty from infection. Put them on before you touch a wound².
2. Large sterile dressings and gauze pads. These are what you press onto a heavy bleed. Small plasters will not cover a large wound, so keep small, medium and large sizes².
3. Bandages you can wrap firmly. Crêpe rolled bandages and triangular bandages let you hold a dressing in place and build up layers if blood soaks through².
4. Medical tape and safety pins. These secure dressings and bandages when you are working one-handed or in a hurry⁹.
5. Scissors. You may need to cut clothing away to see where the blood is coming from³.
6. A haemostatic dressing (optional, specialist). A pad that helps blood clot, for life-threatening wounds to the head, neck, chest or abdomen⁴.
7. A tourniquet (optional, specialist). For severe limb bleeding where severe damage has occurred, such as an amputation or blast injury⁴. Public Access Trauma kits include two⁵.
8. A foil blanket. Useful for keeping a casualty warm while you wait for the ambulance; standard kits include them¹².
9. A resuscitation mask. Standard kits include one, in case the person stops breathing¹².
10. Instruction sheet. Keep the written instructions with the kit so anyone can follow them¹².

If you would rather not build a kit from scratch, you can buy a ready-made one or put together your own in a clean, waterproof box². Either way, the box should be big enough to hold large dressings without crushing them, and it should be easy to open in a hurry.

Why each item matters when bleeding is severe

Severe bleeding is different from a cut. The NHS says that if severe bleeding is not controlled, shock can develop and the person may become unresponsive³. That is why the kit is built around pressure and coverage rather than cleaning and plasters. The aim is to stop the blood loss long enough for an ambulance to arrive.

Heavy bleeding can come from any part of the body, so the first job is to find where the wound is¹³. Once you have found it, remove or cut away any clothing if needed so you can see the wound clearly³. Then apply pressure. If nothing is stuck in the wound, apply pressure using a clean pad or dressing and keep doing it until the bleeding stops⁷. If something is stuck in the wound, do not remove it. Press firmly on either side of the object and build up padding around it before bandaging, so you avoid pressing on the object itself⁷.

The size and number of dressings matter because blood can soak through quickly. If blood is still coming through the first bandage, keep covering it with more bandages⁶. That is why a bleeding control kit needs several large dressings and a roll of bandage, not one of each. It is also why gloves matter: they let you keep working without hesitating.

A haemostatic dressing is the next step up. St John Ambulance says it can be used on a life-threatening wound to the head, neck, chest or abdomen. You place the pad over the wound and hold it tightly in place for a minimum of five minutes, and in some instances the dressing may need to be packed tightly into the wound⁴. That is a technique to learn properly, not something to improvise.

A tourniquet is for a narrower set of situations. St John Ambulance describes it as being used to stem severe limb bleeding where severe damage has occurred, such as an amputation or blast injury, or for rapid control of bleeding where the patient or clinician is in danger⁴. For most household bleeding, direct pressure is the first and often sufficient step.

Pressure first: what St John Ambulance says to do

The order of actions matters more than the contents of the kit. St John Ambulance believes that everyone should learn at least the basic first aid techniques¹⁴, and its advice pages cover everything from the basics of emergency first aid such as CPR and the recovery position, to advice on treating common conditions at home, plus specialist advice for treating children and babies¹⁵. For bleeding, the principle is pressure first.

The steps below draw on NHS and St John Ambulance guidance. They are written for an adult helping another adult; the same principles apply to children, but call 999 early.

1. Check the scene is safe before you approach. You cannot help if you become a casualty too.
2. Call 999. NHS ambulance service guidance is to ring 999 straight away and do exactly what the person on the other end of the phone says⁶. Severe bleeding is one of the situations where you should call 999¹⁶.
3. Find the wound and remove or cut away clothing if needed³.
4. Apply pressure with a clean pad or dressing and keep going until the bleeding stops⁷.
5. Add more dressings on top if blood soaks through the first bandage⁶.
6. Keep the person warm and still while you wait, and watch for signs of shock³.

If a body part, such as a finger, has been severed, place it in a plastic bag or wrap it in cling film and make sure it goes with the patient to hospital⁷. Do not put it directly on ice.

Keeping the kit ready and where to store it

A kit that is out of date, incomplete or at the back of a cupboard is not much use. The Health and Safety Executive advises checking your kit regularly, noting that many items, particularly sterile ones, are marked with expiry dates, and that expired items should be replaced and disposed of safely⁸. Make a habit of checking the kit once a year, and straight after you use anything from it.

Where you store it matters too. NHS guidance suggests keeping a home first aid kit or car first aid kit handy, either by buying a ready-made one or putting together your own in a clean, waterproof box². A waterproof box protects sterile dressings from damp, which matters in kitchens, bathrooms and garages. Keep the kit somewhere you can reach quickly and tell everyone in the household where it is.

You may choose to have two kits: a large one that stays at home and a smaller emergency kit for when you go out¹⁷. That is a sensible arrangement for a household with a car or with children who play sport. The home kit can hold the larger dressings and the specialist items; the smaller kit covers everyday cuts and grazes.

Several councils and health bodies advise keeping a first aid kit as part of a wider emergency kit. The Be Ready household emergency plan suggests keeping essential medication or medical supplies to last several days alongside your first aid kit¹⁸. Your local council may also list a first aid kit as part of an emergency kit for floods or power cuts¹⁹. If you have a baby or young child, a separate child kit with child-sized items is worth having alongside the adult kit¹¹.