Liverpool has one of the busiest and most varied healthcare landscapes in the North West. Between the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Aintree, Liverpool Women's, Alder Hey, the Walton Centre, NHS Mersey Care's community mental health services, and hundreds of GP surgeries, dental practices, care homes, and private clinics across the city and Wirral, the number of clinical staff who need current, certified life support training is significant. Certificates lapse, guidelines update, and teams change. Staying compliant is an ongoing job.
We are PCT Services, and we deliver Resuscitation Council UK aligned life support training for healthcare teams across Liverpool and the wider Merseyside area. We work closely with Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS and NHS Mersey Care, providing Basic Life Support (BLS) and Immediate Life Support (eILS) training that meets CSTF standards. We also work in partnership with Liverpool City Council on training for their care and community teams. Our training centre is at First Floor, 2 Queen Street in Northwich, about 45 minutes from Liverpool city centre, and we deliver on site across the region.
The difference between BLS and eILS
People sometimes use the terms interchangeably, but they are different courses aimed at different teams.
Basic Life Support (BLS) is the foundational course for any healthcare professional. It covers adult and child CPR, the correct use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), recognition of cardiac arrest, the recovery position, and management of choking. It is a two hour course, CPD certified, mapped to CSTF Level 2, and certificates are valid for one year.
BLS is the minimum standard for most clinical roles. GP practice staff, dental teams, care home workers, practice nurses, healthcare assistants, and phlebotomists all typically need BLS as part of their annual mandatory training.
Immediate Life Support (eILS) goes further. It is a five hour Resuscitation Council UK accredited course designed for healthcare professionals who are likely to be first responders to a deteriorating patient or cardiac arrest. It covers the ABCDE approach, airway management, defibrillation, team working during a resuscitation, and the management of peri-arrest rhythms.
eILS is the standard for hospital ward staff, paramedics, acute care nurses, GPs, dentists, and any clinician who may need to lead or support the initial response to a cardiac arrest before the resuscitation team arrives. Group sizes are capped at six to allow for proper hands on practice and scenario based learning.
Who in Liverpool needs this training?
Looking across the city, the list is long. Every GP practice in Liverpool needs its clinical team BLS trained and refreshed annually. That includes the practices in Allerton, Wavertree, Toxteth, Kensington, Anfield, Walton, and everywhere in between.
Every dental practice needs its team BLS certified, and under GDC standards this applies to dentists, hygienists, therapists, nurses, and reception staff who are likely to respond to an in-chair emergency.
Care homes across Liverpool, from the larger groups to the smaller family run homes in places like Mossley Hill, Childwall, and Crosby, need their staff BLS trained and refreshed yearly. With elderly and often frail residents, cardiac arrest and airway emergencies are genuine risks, and having confident, current staff can make the difference.
For hospital teams, community nurses, mental health nurses working with NHS Mersey Care, and specialist clinicians at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS, eILS is usually the right level. It is the course that trains staff to actually lead the first few minutes of a resuscitation, which is where the biggest impact on outcomes is made.
Why training quality matters
Life support is one of those areas where there is a real difference between a tick box course and one that genuinely prepares your team. We have been delivering this training for years, and our instructors are experienced healthcare professionals, not generalists. They have worked in the environments they are training for, and they bring that experience into every session.
Our training is fully aligned with current Resuscitation Council UK guidance, and we update our content as soon as guidelines change. If you are working in a Liverpool hospital or community setting where the latest algorithm matters, you need trainers who are already teaching it.
We use high quality manikins, real AEDs, and scenario based practice. Your team will physically do the compressions, manage the airway, and run through cardiac arrest scenarios as a team. That is how skills actually embed and stay with people under pressure.
On site or at our training centre
We know how hard it is for clinical teams to release staff for a full day, especially in a busy Liverpool practice or hospital. That is why we offer flexible delivery.
For most Liverpool healthcare teams, on site delivery is the easiest option. We come to you, bring all the equipment, and work around your rota. BLS is just two hours, so we can often run a session between clinics or morning and afternoon appointment blocks. eILS takes longer, but can still be scheduled to minimise disruption.
Alternatively, individual staff can attend scheduled courses at our training centre at First Floor, 2 Queen Street in Northwich. It is about a 45 minute drive from Liverpool city centre, easily reached via the M56, and our live dates are available to book directly. This works well if you just need to send one or two people to catch up on a lapsed certificate.
Basic Life Support Training (BLS)
This Basic Life Support course provides essential knowledge and practical skills to competently recognise a cardiac arrest and commence basic life support in adults, children and infants. It also covers safe application of an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator), how to use a pocket mask, administration of oxygen, and the initial assessment and management of anaphylaxis.
Northwich Training Centre, Northwich
Fully booked · 3 dates available
Immediate Life Support Training (eILS)
The Immediate Life Support course is a specialised course designed to equip healthcare professionals with a variety of skills, from managing a deteriorating adult, identifying causes of deterioration and treating cardiorespiratory arrest in adults, to developing team leadership skills and understanding what it takes to be an effective team member in an emergency.
Northwich Training Centre, Northwich
Fully booked
Book your Liverpool life support training
If you are a practice manager, lead nurse, or training lead in a Liverpool healthcare setting and you need to sort out your team's BLS or eILS training, check the live dates on our Basic Life Support page or our Immediate Life Support page and book directly.
For bespoke on site quotes, call us on 07958 915146 and we will talk through what your team needs. Whether you are a small dental practice in Aigburth or a multi-site care provider across Merseyside, we can put together the right package.
Keeping life support current is one of those things that is easy to let slide. But when seconds matter, you want your team ready.
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