MP joins drowning victim's mother on visit to University of Portsmouth labs to hear about life-saving research into water safety

• University of Portsmouth scientists, Southampton Itchen MP Darren Paffey, and campaigners support calls for a minister with responsibility for drowning prevention in the UK 

• Mr Paffey visited campus this week with Vanessa Abbess, whose son tragically drowned off Bournemouth beach in 2023 

• Research from the University’s Extreme Environments Laboratories underpins RNLI’s award-winning “Float to Live” campaign and much of the understanding of what happens on immersion in cold water 

Southampton Itchen MP Darren Paffey joined a drowning victim's mother on a visit to the University of Portsmouth this week, to hear more about life-saving water safety research. 

The Labour MP and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Water Safety Education, has led major parliamentary campaigns and public pleas to treat drowning as a preventable public health emergency. 

He was invited to Portsmouth's Extreme Environments Laboratories (EEL) on Wednesday (23 September) by his constituent Vanessa Abbess, and Professor Mike Tipton, Chair of the National Water Safety Forum (NWSF) and co-founder of the University of Portsmouth's Extreme Environments & Occupational Performance Research Group. 

Also visiting the labs that day were members of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Ambulance Service (HIOWAA), to find out more about the EEL facilities and related research. 

Vanessa's son Joe tragically died off Bournemouth beach in 2023 after being caught in a rip current, the same day as 12-year-old Sunnah Khan. Two air ambulance teams were deployed to support rescue efforts, including Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance (DSAA) and HIOWAA, and Vanessa has worked closely with the charity to raise awareness of water safety ever since.  

Despite years of concerted effort by safety organisations, charities, politicians and individuals like Vanessa, the UK's toll of accidental drowning deaths has remained stubbornly static, with at least 202 confirmed fatalities recorded in 2025 alone. Because many of those that drown are young, this equates to 8,000 years of life lost each year in the UK to drowning.  

She said: "Joe's death was shocking and utterly heart-breaking. He was 17 years old, healthy and strong, being sensible and safe, but still tragically drowned when a ferocious rip current hit - despite being a confident swimmer, in shallow water, within a flagged safe swimming zone and close lifeguards.  

"Thank you to Professor Tipton and the team for the invitation to attend the labs. It was very interesting, and I was grateful to hear about their work in drowning prevention." 

A minister responsible for water safety 

The campaign for a dedicated water safety minister has been building momentum for several years, since the NWSF Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), and the University of Portsmouth first called on the UK government to assign responsibility for drowning prevention, a step already taken by devolved administrations in Wales and Scotland. 

At UK level, drowning prevention and water safety are not part of a coherent ministerial portfolio brief. Partial responsibility of this area is fragmented across multiple departments, making a sustained, co-ordinated national response difficult to achieve. 

England's first-ever dedicated Drowning Prevention Strategy was launched in July this year, by Water Safety England, part of the NWSF. Scotland's Drowning Prevention Strategy has driven a 10 per cent reduction in accidental drowning fatalities since 2019.  

Following the recent curriculum review, the Department for Education also confirmed that water safety education would be made a compulsory part of the national curriculum. 

Despite this, Professor Mike Tipton and colleagues are calling for more to be done. He said: "Behind each drowning is a family devastated by a death that, in many cases, was preventable. 

"The National Water Safety Forum has members with the knowledge, the campaigns and the collaborative structures to reduce drowning numbers - but without a named minister accountable for drowning prevention in the UK, the NWSF’s drowning prevention interventions lack the integrated political support, focus and endorsement that this issue demands and that will augment our efforts." 

Vanessa added: "Anyone can drown, no-one should but with collaboration across the water safety sector, education and government support, lives will be saved. Drowning needs to be treated as a public health emergency and I urge the government to appoint a Water Safety Minister to lead on this basis." 

Life-saving data on the line 

The latest figures from the Water Incident Database (WAID), published by the NWSF in May 2026, reveal a stark picture. Of the 202 confirmed accidental drowning deaths in the UK in 2025, 150 were in England, 39 in Scotland, 12 in Wales and 1 in Northern Ireland. 

August was the deadliest month, with 31 deaths, followed by June and July with 27 each, consistent with warmer weather drawing more people to water. 

"I can't overstate the importance of the Water Incident Database in helping us focus our efforts to prevent water-related deaths," explained Professor Tipton. 

"Unfortunately, the National Water Safety Forum will run out of funding to run WAID in January 2027. That's why we're also asking government to help fund it moving forward. Without it, we'll get to be at a point in the UK when we won't know how, where or when people have drowned and therefore have no information on which to base preventative measures." 

Commenting on his visit to the EEL, Darren Paffey said: "In Westminster, we know how important strong research and evidence is to the success of our campaigns. Professor Tipton and his colleagues at the University of Portsmouth have helped to strengthen our understanding and insight into water safety and in doing so have added enormous weight to our calls for the behavioural and policy changes that we’ve all wanted to see. 

"It was really valuable to be able to learn more about their work, and especially to be able to do so alongside Vanessa who has been such a powerful voice for improving water safety education." 

Backed by decades of research 

Professor Tipton, having named “cold shock” with his colleague Dr Frank Golden in the 1980s, has spent four decades studying the physiological responses to cold water immersion with his colleagues and translating research findings into lessons for drowning prevention, rescue and treatment (“from lab to lifesaving”).  

Research conducted at Portsmouth’s Extreme Environments Laboratories underpins national and international water safety campaigns and lifesaving interventions, including the RNLI's widely recognised “Float to Live” initiative which recently won an International Safety Media Award. 

Earlier this year, Professor Tipton received a prestigious honour from the RNLI. The Board of the charity has recently awarded him the title of Honorary Life Governor in recognition of his exceptional services to the RNLI and to drowning prevention.