It is here. My office has been working on this for just under a year. It was a huge push, but was totally worth it. More about the curriculum below, but first, I must mention those involved who gave up time, made donations to the process, and provided their priceless expertise and experience in the field. This would not have happened without: Kathy Bodmer at PEC, Dr Saramarie Eagleton at INEC, Alastair Farish at Absolute Health Services, Abram Lourens at Sibanye Stillwater, Claudette van Rooyen and Hanlie Oosthuizen at Ahelena, Alan Forsyth, Graham Pearson at SAIOSH, Neil Kelham at First on Scene, Pieter and Louise van Tonder at TFAST; and myself, Reuben Jensen representing Lime Green Training. Also thanks to Ben van As and the members at HWSETA and QCTO who often were willing to work with us and accept our help.
Get learning material for this program here.
The curriculum is available on the QCTO website. However, at time of writing (29 September 2023) the website contains versions that are being edited again, but the ones below are correct. Please feel free to download from here, or the QCTO website (assuming those errors are fixed).
Please see notes about the curriculum itself below. This is from a member of the development team / focus group. It explores the changes HWSETA & QCTO made after the curriculum was submitted by us.
These changes were done independently by HWSETA and QCTO and the focus group was not consulted or included.
Its important to have a look at these changes to understand any difference between the intent of the focus group and subject matter experts, and the administrators at HWSETA and QCTO.
NQF Level: Basic first aid was suggested at NQF level 1, and was changed to level 2. Level 1 would have made it more accessible.
Credit value: The credit value was changed a bit, but we are just grateful it was not bumped up to 8 credits as was QCTO’s original suggestion. The credit value for intermediate was changed from 4 to 5. Not a major issue, but it makes it very close to advanced first aid, whereas previously it sat quite snugly between advanced and basic (at 2,4 and 6 credits)
Titles: We suggested not making use of the word “responder” because there is an implication to a first aider being moved (e.g. by vehicle) to a location to do first aid, as opposed to doing first aid in their location (like in the workplace). There is more to first aid on the move, and the suggestion from us was to simply omit use of the word. It was added back more than once. At time of writing the titles on the website differ from the titles on the programs.
Titles and contents: We suggested the words “advanced” and “intermediate” and “basic” first aid are relative terms that lack context, so we suggested these were simply omitted within the material. They have value in the title, so no major issue, but in the content of the course they just sound off. E.g. in a standalone manual a learner studying intermediate first aid will read things like “provide the patient with intermediate emergency care”.
Human resource: The facilitator and assessor requirement we proposed for advanced first aid allowed for BAA and AEA, as well as paramedics. This was omitted and made less clear. The reference directly to BAA and AEA were omitted, but this does not preclude BAA and AEA meeting HR requirements.
SDP requirement: The facilitator and assessor requirement we submitted was edited to simply be an SDP requirement in the more general sense. We were quite specific about the actual facilitator and assessor requirement. Including the acceptance of the QCTO or ETDP SETA assessor and facilitator qualifications. On the plus side one does not need to have an active director that has a medical degree as previously demanded by HWSETA (which ironically would disqualify their CEO at the time). I personally pushed very hard to ensure first aid did not become inaccessible that way again.
Human resource: The entry requirement we submitted included an allowance for facilitators with a SANC registerable qualification (i.e. parallel or instead of an HPCSA registerable one). This was removed.
Knowledge: Some minor changes were made here that were unnecessary, and detract or lose the message of what we submitted. For example, basic awareness of mental health was edited to require the learner to now recognise symptoms of post traumatic stress, and then deal with it in their personal situation. This wording is quite far from what was submitted. We submitted a basic awareness, including self awareness, but not akin to making self diagnosis. Petty? Maybe, but we had a clear message for each module. Some of that was damaged.
Practical: The changes here were absolutely massive. We submitted 9 practical outcomes for advanced first aid. This was increased to 28 practical outcomes. I can see they are trying to align it to the knowledge, but a discussion or mention of it would have been nice!
Working with the changes: Because it took nearly a year from the date Lime Green began to motivate that QCTO make a first aid skills program available the goal here is to try and work with these changes. They can maybe be fixed or revised in post, but sending the curriculum back will delay things by far too long. At time of writing the first aid unit standards have already long passed registration end date, and SETA’s either do not, or are reluctant (understandably) to take on new providers for expiring unit standards, especially, if they, like first aid, have now been replaced by QCTO skills programs.
What we could have had: Luckily we intervened. In the early stages of this year-long process, well before the focus group was formed by Lime Green, there was a curriculum circulating for comment that we essentially threw out. It was deadly. Basic first aiders would have been intubating patients, treating urinary tract infections, medicating patients, and more. So while there will be healthy discussion and debate as the new (at time of writing) QCTO first aid statutory skills programs hit the scene, I personally feel grateful that the program is sane, established and quality assured, and is something we can work with.
Please contact my office for learning material and assistance with accreditation against this program.
