Residential care settings: first-aid and CPR standards

First Aid & CPR Ireland

In Ireland, nursing homes and residential care settings support older and vulnerable people who need continuous care. To keep residents safe, these settings rely on healthcare assistants trained in first aid and CPR.

Settings concerned

Nursing home and designated residential care setting, regulated by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA); frontline care staff are Healthcare Assistants (HCAs), typically holding the QQI Level 5 Healthcare Support award.

The first-aid requirement

Alongside the QQI Level 5 (Healthcare Support) award, BLS/CPR certification (adult, paediatric, infant, AED and airway obstruction) is commonly required by Irish nursing-home and agency employers so that staff on site can respond immediately to a cardiac emergency.

A recognized, up-to-date BLS/CPR certificate is the way to meet this expectation; it is in addition to the staff's occupational training and must be renewed periodically.

How to meet it

A recognized, up-to-date first-aid and CPR certificate meets this requirement. It is in addition to the required training or assessment, and is renewed periodically.

See the recognized first-aid courses in your region

For organizations: keep your team compliant

When the certificate is an employer requirement, the real challenge is tracking. Our organization system manages a team’s training: a certification dashboard, deadline tracking, automatic renewal reminders and proof archiving. An organization keeps its whole staff current without watching every date by hand.

Training aligned with the latest emergency-care standards

Our CPR, AED and first-aid training is developed in line with the most recent international guidelines for emergency cardiovascular care and first aid.

We rigorously follow the recommendations of ILCOR (International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation), the international body responsible for the scientific evaluation and development of global resuscitation standards. These recommendations serve as a reference for health organizations, institutions and professional orders worldwide — and are updated as scientific and clinical evidence evolves.

Keep your skills current with confidence

Every intervention can make a difference. Keeping CPR and emergency-care skills current is both a professional requirement and a responsibility toward patients, colleagues and the public.

See the recognized first-aid courses in your region

References

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