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First aid and healthcare charity to deliver essential first aid initiative targeted at young people across the East Midlands for the first time.

Thanks to players of The Health Lottery, St John Ambulance has received a grant of nearly a quarter of a million pounds from the Health Lottery Foundation to expand its Young Responders programme across the East Midlands, helping more young people develop the confidence and skills to respond in a health emergency. 

The two-year grant of £241,807, the biggest ever made by the Health Lottery Foundation, will fully fund the delivery of Young Responders in the region, enabling St John Ambulance to recruit and train specialist staff and work with local partners to reach young people from underserved  communities. 

St John’s Young Responders programme started delivering street first aid sessions during 2023, with training focused on how to treat injuries resulting from major societal issues such as knife crime. Key topics covered include:  

• Responding to a catastrophic bleed  
• Dealing with an alcohol or vape spiking incident  
• Performing a primary survey and CPR  
• How first aid situations affect mental health and wellbeing, and how to get support.  

The programme has already been successfully rolled out across the North East, West Midlands, London, Hull, East Riding, North Lincolnshire, and North East Lincolnshire — laying the groundwork for a nationwide expansion. 

The project was created to engage and empower young people from diverse communities who face the greatest health inequities to become active health citizens through practical physical first aid and mental health awareness sessions relevant to the challenges they face. The programme is aimed at young people aged 11 to 25 from under-served communities, including those who are care-experienced, young carers, those not in education, employment or training, and young people exposed to or at risk of street violence.  

Since 2023, Young Responders has delivered lifesaving skills to more than 72,000 young people across England, helping them build confidence, resilience and the skills to act in an emergency. 

Thanks to the Health Lottery Foundation grant, St John Ambulance will extend the programme into the East Midlands. A full team is now in place, allowing local engagement to start in order to secure Young Responders bookings with schools, youth organisations and community partners across the region. Delivery will continue until December 2027.

The new East Midlands programme aims to train around 15,000 young people by December 2027, helping to create safer, more resilient communities across the region.  

Pauline Bartley, Young Responders Project Manager at St John Ambulance, said: “This funding from the Health Lottery Foundation is a huge step forward for Young Responders and the young people we support. Expanding across the East Midlands means we can reach more young people who may not  otherwise have access to lifesaving skills, giving them the confidence to act in a crisis and make a real difference in their communities.” 

Delva Patman, CEO at The Health Lottery Foundation, said: “We are thrilled to be working with St John Ambulance to roll out such a vital programme into a new area. Thanks to players of The Health Lottery we’ve been able to award our largest ever grant. We were impressed by  the impact the programme has made to date and could see the urgent  need to expand it further. We look forward to working closely with St John Ambulance over the next two years and hope to visit the East Midlands, to meet some of the Young Responders and celebrate their achievements.”

Notes About The Health Lottery Foundation

The Health Lottery Foundation was set up in January 2025 and makes sure that the money raised by players of The Health Lottery flows back into local communities and makes a difference where it’s most needed. It funds projects that unite people to improve health, wellbeing and happiness. www.thehealthlotteryfoundation.org.uk

About The Health Lottery 

The Health Lottery launched in October 2011, a minimum of 20 per cent of every lottery draw ticket and online instant win games purchased goes towards good causes. Since its inception, Health Lottery Players have raised over £136m. www.healthlottery.co.uk/good-causes