Campaign by mum of stabbing victim John McNab shapes Edinburgh's new £50k bleed kit strategy
Edinburgh council revises bleed kit strategy following Lisa Petrie's campaign in memory of her late son, John McNab
Edinburgh council is to rewrite its strategy for anti-knife crime bleed kits to match the standard set by a local mum's memorial campaign.
In a vote at last Thursday’s full council meeting, councillors agreed to a full review of the procurement process after two commercial options failed to include key equipment featured in kits put together by Leith parent Lisa Petrie.
In addition, it agreed to ask officers to liaise with the NHS, police and education bodies to find out the merits of different piece of equipment that could be included in them.
Ms Petrie’s 22-year-old son, John McNab, died following an unprovoked stabbing in September last year, prompting her to launch the "Not in Vain" campaign to distribute bleed control equipment.
The councillor behind the push said after the vote that it was important the kits could be rolled out in memory of John McNab.
Edinburgh Council’s budget for this year includes £50,000 to spend on procuring the kits, meant to be placed in schools and community centres.
The effort to get the kits was spearheaded by Green councillor Susan Rae, who is looking to build on the efforts of Lisa Petrie.
Councillors in the city’s education, children and families committee were presented options for commercially available kits in March this year.
But a motion put forward by Cllr Rae before the full council meeting last week said the kits were missing some equipment that feature in the ones Ms Petrie’s charity group puts out.
Cllr Rae also wrote that councillors on the committee may not have been aware that this was the case.
She added that council officers had reached out to Ms Petrie’s ‘Not in Vain’ campaign, under the Low Income Families Together (LIFT) charity at Muirhouse, for advice on next steps.
Cllr Rae said: “Councillors remember the powerful deputation from Lisa Petrie, who tragically lost her son John to a brutal stabbing in Leith last year.
“Lisa came to speak to Council alongside LIFT when the original motion on bleed kits was discussed earlier this year.
“All Councillors then committed to including funding for bleed kits in the Council budget which was passed in February.
“I understand there are legal processes [required] for procurement, but I very much hope that council officers can engage with Lisa and with LIFT as they take this work forward.
“It is important to me, and so many others, that this work can go forward in John’s memory.”