I wish we could offer FAAW to staff and eligible Cadets.
When I was volunteering elsewhere the org used an external FA trainer who covered the 1 day EFAW plus the specifics required by the organisation. If you wanted the EFAW you did the test and paid a nominal sum for the certificate.
I do appreciate that FAAW is 3 days not 2 though.
18 hours, I believe, which is the same as AFA
Interesting
I looked at doing FAAW (with St John’s as it happens) as they were still running courses during lockdown. It was 3 working days, but if it’s hours based maybe we could squeeze it into a weekend.
The HSE say a min of 18 hours, and three days for FAAW.
Isn’t AFA a min of 16 hours, and 2 days?
Yes… An extra hour each day would do no harm in order to receive something actual recognised
Been there, done that.
Of course, with FAAW, it’s possible to split the days - they don’t have to run consecutively. I’m not sure if there’s a minimum amount per session that has to run though. The practical is also (optionally?) competency based assessment as opposed to scenario, and optional extras include tourniquets and haemostatic dressings.
Those with links to providers have done “cost only” courses in the past. Going to an unrelated commercial provider… Maybe some would be willing to come up with a cut price agreement in return for an “official training partner” claim on their website.
HOWEVER…
This is not relevant to Heartstart.
I’m with the “invent our own” crowd - got AFA or FAAW and done MOI/SSIC/OIC/SAAI/PETLS/AET? You’re an instructor, here’s the syllabus, WFAO may visit your first course to assess and develop if you might be an idiot.
…but given that many WFAOs hold no formal qualifications, what should the governance be?
Completely with that for Cadet and basic staff quals
We already effectively do. As I said above, this is just BLS.
18 hours contact time including assessment. Mine was done over a friday night, saturday and sunday (to prevent stupidly long days by doing it over 2 days).
This does imply that we will revert to HeartStart post-pandemic, though.
I thought they were required to hold a qualification?
oh, maybe, in what?
fair enough! I didn’t realise my WFAO had any of that 
Why do we need to be teaching anything beyond hands only CPR? That’s the way the wind is blowing anyway.
At work are explicitly trained to do hands only unless we have a face shield these days and even then it’s upto us. We also don’t use the recovery position anymore as there are more effective alternatives like the jaw thrust. (This makes it even more annoying when I have to sit through a HQAC course because they won’t accept my work training that I use all the time thinking “won’t do that or that”.)
The WFAO in my old wing doesn’t. The suitably qualified person didn’t get the job while someone without any quals did…
The worst thing about your whole post is that there is not a single person on this forum that is surprised by that revelation
I’m more annoyed about it. Just rewritten my whole junior cadet induction plan to include 2 nights of Heartstart.
Obviously not knowing the personalities involved it’s impossible to comment. But that being said sometimes the unqualified person working towards the qualifications who can get along with others is a better shout than the person who has the skills but is an empire builder with no personality. (Thinking more of people I’ve had to deal with than the specific circumstances of your Wing).
But when the ACTO Mandates not just a first aid qualification but also an SJA assessor qualification and ongoing registration appointing someone without those qualifications raises questions about the validity of cadet qualifications that they’ve authorised
