The Home First Aid Kit: What Belongs in It, What Does Not, and How Often to Check It

Most first aid kits sit in a cupboard until the day they are needed, and then turn out to hold three dried-up plasters, a bandage that fell apart and a bottle of something past its date. A kit does not need to be large or expensive. It needs to be complete enough for the common injuries of an ordinary household, current, and somewhere the whole family can find it in the dark. The NHS's first aid pages and the British Red Cross's first aid guidance set out the basics, and both agree on one point above all: the skill matters more than the contents.

The core contents

• A range of plasters in different sizes, preferably waterproof, including some for fingers
• Sterile gauze dressings in a few sizes, and medical tape to hold them
• A roller bandage, and a triangular bandage that can serve as a sling
• Disposable non-latex gloves, several pairs
• Antiseptic wipes or saline sachets for cleaning around a wound
• Blunt-ended scissors and fine-pointed tweezers for splinters
• A digital thermometer
• Safety pins
• A foil blanket, which is light and useful in cold or shock
• A pocket face shield for rescue breaths, if you are trained

Basic medicines

Keep a small supply of paracetamol, and ibuprofen if suitable for the household, as asthma, stomach ulcers and some other conditions rule it out, so check with a pharmacist first. Keep an antihistamine for mild allergic reactions and insect bites, oral rehydration sachets for stomach upsets, and any emergency medicine prescribed to a family member, such as an adrenaline pen or an asthma reliever. Do not keep leftover prescription antibiotics or other people's medicines. The NHS medicines pages explain what each one is for and who should avoid it. Children's doses are by age and weight, so keep the paediatric versions and read the label each time.

What not to put in

Creams and butter on burns are a persistent habit that does harm. The NHS advice for a minor burn or scald is to cool it under cool or lukewarm running water for 20 minutes, not to apply ice, creams or greasy substances, and to cover it loosely with cling film. Cotton wool sheds fibres into wounds and is best avoided. Tourniquets are for trained use in life-threatening bleeding. A well-chosen kit has fewer items than the cheap ones sold in bags of a hundred.

Where to keep it and how often to check

Choose a cool, dry place out of reach of small children but not locked away. In a hot climate such as the Gulf, avoid the car glovebox and the kitchen shelf above a cooker; most medicines are labelled to be stored below 25C, and heat degrades many of them. Check the kit every six months: replace anything used, anything out of date and any dressing with a damaged wrapper. A good time is when the clocks change, or at the start of a school term. Put a short card inside with local emergency numbers and the names of anyone with allergies or conditions.

The car, the bag, the trip

A smaller version belongs in the car, and another in the bag you take on holiday or walks, with blister plasters, rehydration salts and your usual medicines in original packaging. Our guide to extreme heat and health covers what to add for hot weather.

The part that is not in the box

The most useful first aid item is knowing what to do for choking, severe bleeding, an unresponsive adult and a burn. The NHS has a clear page on CPR, and the Red Cross and equivalent bodies elsewhere run short courses, often a few hours, that cost less than a decent kit. Do one. It will outlast every item in the box.