If you work in healthcare in Cheshire, life support training is not something you do once and forget about. It is a core clinical skill that needs to be refreshed regularly, because when a patient goes into cardiac arrest or stops breathing, the quality of the response in those first few minutes determines whether they survive.
Cheshire has a large and diverse healthcare sector. From the major hospitals in Chester and Warrington to the network of GP surgeries, dental practices, care homes, and community health services spread across towns like Macclesfield, Crewe, Northwich, Knutsford, Nantwich, and Congleton, there are thousands of healthcare professionals across the county who need their life support skills kept current.
We are PCT Services, and we deliver Resuscitation Council UK accredited life support training from our training centre at First Floor, 2 Queen Street in Northwich, right in the heart of Cheshire. We offer three levels of life support training to cover the full range of clinical roles across the county.
The three courses explained
Basic Life Support (BLS)
BLS is the foundational life support course that every healthcare worker needs. It covers adult CPR, the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), and the recovery position. It is a two hour CPD certified course aligned with CSTF Level 2 standards, and it is designed as a mandatory annual refresher.
This is the course for the broadest range of healthcare staff. Reception teams at GP surgeries and dental practices, healthcare assistants, support workers, care home staff at all levels, and anyone working in a clinical environment who could be the first to find a collapsed patient. Groups can be up to 14 people, which makes it practical to train an entire team in one session.
BLS training is a requirement in most healthcare settings across Cheshire. If you manage a GP surgery in Sandbach, a dental practice in Wilmslow, a care home in Ellesmere Port, or a nursing home in Holmes Chapel, your team needs current BLS certification. It is often checked during CQC inspections and clinical audits.
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 (eILS)
eILS is the next step up and is designed for healthcare professionals who may need to manage a deteriorating patient or lead the initial response to a cardiac arrest. It is accredited by the Resuscitation Council UK and combines online pre-learning with a five hour practical session.
The course teaches the ABCDE approach to patient assessment, advanced airway management, recognition and response to cardiac arrest rhythms, and the skills to lead or contribute to a resuscitation team until a specialist team arrives. It costs £180 per person, the certificate is valid for one year, and groups are kept small at a maximum of six to ensure plenty of hands on practice.
eILS is relevant for hospital staff, senior nurses, GP practice clinicians, dental surgeons, paramedics, and any healthcare professional in Cheshire whose role could involve managing a critically ill patient.
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
Paediatric Immediate Life Support (ePILS)
ePILS is the paediatric equivalent of eILS, designed for healthcare professionals who work with children. It covers the recognition and management of the seriously ill child, paediatric airway management, and paediatric resuscitation. The course lasts four and a half hours, costs £150 per person, and has a maximum group size of six.
This is relevant for children's nurses, paediatric ward staff, school nurses, health visitors, and any healthcare professional in Cheshire whose clinical work involves treating children. Whether you work at a children's ward in one of the hospitals or as a community children's nurse covering rural Cheshire, ePILS gives you the specialist skills to respond when a child deteriorates.
Paediatric Immediate Life Support Training (ePILS)
The Paediatric Immediate Life Support course is a specialised half-day training programme designed to equip healthcare professionals with critical skills for managing paediatric emergencies. This Resuscitation Council accredited course focuses on the ABCDE approach, immediate life support techniques, and team leadership skills essential for treating seriously ill or deteriorating children until expert help arrives.
Who needs what across Cheshire?
The approach we see working best is a layered one, and we help healthcare organisations across the county put this into practice.
For GP surgeries and dental practices, we typically recommend BLS for all staff, including receptionists and administrative teams, and eILS for the clinical leads. This means everyone in the building can respond to a cardiac arrest, and the clinicians have the advanced skills to manage the situation.
For care homes and nursing homes, BLS is essential for all staff. For homes with registered nurses, eILS provides the advanced skills needed for managing the complex medical needs of residents who may deteriorate quickly.
For hospitals and community health teams, the combination depends on the department and the clinical roles involved. We work with teams across Cheshire to identify who needs BLS, who needs eILS, and who needs ePILS, and then schedule the training to fit around shifts and clinical commitments.
Central location, county-wide delivery
Our training centre in Northwich is perfectly positioned for healthcare teams across the whole of Cheshire. We are about 20 minutes from Chester, Warrington, Winsford, Middlewich, Knutsford, and Frodsham. We are about 30 minutes from Macclesfield, Crewe, Nantwich, Congleton, Wilmslow, Altrincham, Ellesmere Port, and Runcorn. And even from the furthest corners of the county, like Alderley Edge, Holmes Chapel, Sandbach, and Lymm, we are no more than about 35 to 40 minutes away.
We run scheduled BLS, eILS, and ePILS courses throughout the year with live dates you can book directly on our course pages. Check the Basic Life Support page, the Immediate Life Support page, or the Paediatric Immediate Life Support page for upcoming dates.
We also deliver BLS training on site at healthcare settings across Cheshire. This is particularly popular with GP surgeries, dental practices, and care homes that want to train their whole team without sending staff off site. We bring all the equipment and set up wherever works best for you.
Why train with us?
All of our life support courses are aligned with the latest Resuscitation Council UK guidelines. Our instructors are experienced healthcare professionals, not just trainers reading from a script. They understand the clinical environments you work in because they have worked in them themselves.
We are a Bloom accredited supplier, which means NHS organisations can book our courses through NHS Supply Chain. We are also CPD certified, so your training counts towards your continuing professional development.
With 198 Google reviews and a 5.0 star rating, healthcare teams across Cheshire trust us to deliver life support training that is practical, current, and professionally run.
Book your team's training
If you manage a healthcare team anywhere in Cheshire and you need to get your life support training organised, check the upcoming dates on our course pages and book directly. Or give us a call on 07958 915146 and we can discuss what your team needs and how best to schedule it. Whether that is BLS for your whole team, eILS for your clinical leads, ePILS for your paediatric staff, or a combination of all three, we will get it sorted.
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