Nine out of 10 parents in Britain don't know simple first-aid which could save their child's life, according to a report.

And the survey said two-thirds of parents don't think their child's carer would know what to do in a medical emergency either. Worse still, only 8% think their 'babysitters' would know what to do.

Yet young children and accidents go hand in hand. Four out of 10 parents have had to rush their baby/toddler to a hospital Accident and Emergency centre and 14% have had to call an ambulance which has taken around 13 minutes to arrive

Figures show 500,000 youngsters under the age of five are injured in the home each year. A further 67,000 under-fives are hurt or killed in accidents in the garden.

According to the nation-wide Save A Life Survey 2002, commissioned by Mother & Baby Magazine, in association with Tesco and St. John Ambulance, 89% of mums say they “feel anxious when they leave their child in someone else's care”.

Other ‘motherhood worries’

• 59% of mums argue with their partner about their children's safety.
• 86% of mums say 'motherhood is more worrying than they ever imagined'.
• 93% of mums would like to attend a first-aid/life-saving course specifically related to young children.

• Only 11% of all parents think their house 'very safe'.
• Only 16% have a 'residual circuit breaker' in their home to prevent their child suffering an electric shock.
• Only 8% of parents have fitted a hob/cooker guard and only 18% have a safety kettle flex.
• 25% of parents who have an open fire/gas or electric fire don't have a fire guard.
• Every year more than half a million under-fives need to go to casualty after accidents in the home and 86 die.

• Four out of 10 parents haven't got locks on garden gates (42%) and 35% say their garden is 'not securely fenced'.
• A third of parents don't lock away garden chemicals (36%) or garden tools (34%).
• 59% say they 'don't know' if there are poisonous plants in their garden.
• 60% of grandparents' house/gardens are NOT 'safe and secure'.
• 125,000 under-fives are injured or killed in garden accidents every year.
• A third of parents say they or someone their child visits has a pond (31%) - but only 61% of these ponds are securely covered or fenced.
• 40% of young children have fallen or stepped into a pond and 30% have fallen into a swimming/paddling pool.