PCs glucose tablets will save lives and lunches!
When motorway police officer Paul Searle stopped a car travelling erratically at Birch Services on the M62, and found the driver to be suffering from hypo-glycaemia as a result of diabetes, he had no option but to hand over his lunch and watch the distressed motorist scoff the lot.
When motorway police officer Paul Searle stopped a car travelling erratically at Birch Services on the M62, and found the driver to be suffering from hypo-glycaemia as a result of diabetes, he had no option but to hand over his lunch and watch the distressed motorist scoff the lot.
The life-saving gesture got PC Searle thinking, and he made a proposal to Greater Manchester Polices suggestion scheme, Forceful Ideas, that motorway police vehicles should carry high-energy glucose tablets in their first aid kits for just such an emergency.
The idea was supported by the forces medical officer and the British Diabetic Association, who agreed that giving glucose tablets to someone in distress would certainly cause no harm, and could actually help 90 per cent of diabetics in trouble.
High-energy glucose tablets are now carried in all police motorway vehicle first aid kits and PC Searles idea has been put forward for a cash award from the Forceful Ideas suggestion scheme.
PC Searle said: This was the second case of a driver suffering from hypo-glycaemia that I had come across in just one week. Though the majority of diabetics who drive are careful about maintaining their blood sugar levels, it is still possible to get caught out.
With these tablets in the first aid kits we can provide quick and effective relief to sufferers and hopefully get them safely on their way when they have recovered. It will also help to ensure that police officers like myself do not need to go without our lunch!