More than 320,000 people have downloaded a Red Cross first-aid app which enables users to provide emergency aid quicker and more effectively.

The app, which was first introduced six months ago, has since been used 1,500 times in actual emergencies. These figures were published by the Netherlands Red Cross, which conducted a survey among more than 6,400 people. The organisation is very pleased with the extensive public interest in first-aid skills. Only three percent of the Dutch population has a working knowledge of how to provide first aid.

“This is a very low level compared to countries such as Germany and Austria, where 80 percent of the population has first-aid skills. The Netherlands Red Cross is working in a number of ways to improve first aid knowledge among the general public; the first-aid app being one of them,” a spokesperson for the aid organisation said.

The Netherlands’ national association of family doctors is also excited about the popularity of the new app. “First-aid knowledge is crucial in the first minutes of an emergency to limit injury or even save lives,” a spokesperson said.

People who consulted the app in actual emergencies, used the information it provided to treat burns and cuts, but also diarrhoea, faints, concussions, heart attacks and epileptic fits.