STRIKING doctors turned their picket lines into classrooms yesterday, teaching parents and carers how to save children’s lives.

Junior paediatricians at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London decided to “give back” to the supporting community and set up a first aid workshop on the picket line.

The initiative proved popular across the country, with CPR classes taking place outside several other hospitals.

GOSH clinical research fellow Dr Intan Yeop told the Star: “Standing on the picket line you get a sense of camaraderie, you get to know the public and tell a bit more about the contract.

“But maybe it’s a medic thing but we felt ‘we’ve got to do something,’ so we’ve been thinking of how we could use our time wisely and how to give back as well.

“That makes a statement — we’re not angry with our hospitals, we are angry at the government.”

Dr Yeop added that given the high demand for life support training among parents the idea of organising a workshop was a no-brainer.

Dozens of parents, carers and generally concerned adults congregated at nearby St George’s Church.

Supervised by striking doctors, adults were able to practice on child-sized dummies while their kids played in a creche provided by strikers.

Anna Smith, who brought her two year-old son Matthew to the session, said she had long wanted to do the training but courses were always full and often expensive.

“As a mother you always want to know what to do in case of emergency,” she said.

“I knew through the advert [that it was put on by strikers] and it was really useful.”