BASICS Scotland

The British Association for Immediate Care Scotland (BASICS Scotland) shares its origins with the British Association for Immediate Care, a similar organisation covering England and Wales. They originated together as an organisation aiming to encourage and aid with the formation of immediate care schemes and to provide training to support those working in prehospital care. In 1993, the British Association for Immediate Care began running prehospital care courses in Scotland, which were met with a warm welcome and it became clear there was a large audience for such education[1], especially in remote and rural areas of Scotland. This need for training and organisational leadership became clearer after the 1994 Scotland RAF Chinook Crash on the Mull of Kintyre. This lead to the training provided by BASICS to be modified for a more rural setting, and lead to the development of BASICS Scotland as a separate organisation in 2002.

British Association for Immediate Care Scotland

Formation	1977 / 2002
Type	Charitable organisation
Headquarters	Sandpiper House, Aberuthven Enterprise Park, Aberruthven, PH3 1EL
Region	United Kingdom
Chairperson	Dave Bywater
Vice Chairperson	Duncan Tripp
Website	basics-scotland.org.uk

Purpose

BASICS Scotland is an association of health care professionals, who undertake additional training as immediate care practitioners. The members provide their services in support of the statutory or voluntary ambulance services.[2][3] BASICS Scotland in coordination with The Sandpiper Trust is also a keen promoter of first aid and emergency prehospital care.[4]

BASICS Scotland responders, many of whom are General Practitioners[5][6], are able to offer additional skills and resources to the other statutory and voluntary emergency services. In this role, responders are dispatched by the Scottish Ambulance Service control room, and many responders carry radios or telephones with tracking capabilities to allow control room staff to know when a responder is in close proximity to an incident. These responders are integrated into the pan-Scotland trauma network[7].

The Role the Sandpiper Trust

The Sandpiper Trust is a charity formed to provide remote and rural medical (and paramedical) practitioners with equipment that would allow them to safely provide high quality immediate care at the scene of an illness or accident[8]. An early benefit of this organisation was the bespoke design of the Sandpiper Bag specifically for rural prehospital care. The Sandpiper Bag is now the recognised standard pre-hospital care equipment in Scotland and is used extensively on the BASICS Scotland courses. It is also the being used on the prehospital Diploma examinations by the Faculty of Prehospital Care, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh[9]. Sandpiper Bags have also made their way to Australia with the development of Sandpiper Australia[10].

History

BASICS Scotland originally formed as part of the British Association for Immediate Care, which was established in June 1977.[11] Kenneth Easton, a General Practitioner, was the first chairman of the organisation.[12] Since then BASICS Scotland has become fully independent from BASICS[13] and has diversified its educational provision across Scotland.

Educational Activity

BASICS Scotland provides a number of face-to-face and online courses as well as annual conferences. It also has a voice at national level[14] and direct involvement with the work of the Royal College of Surgeons in relation to their Faculty of Prehospital Care.

Conferences

BASICS Scotland holds annual conferences covering a range of topics of interest to those involved in prehospital and rural emergency care. These conferences are usually held in Aviemore, Scotland.

Courses

BASICS Scotland run a number of courses;

• PhEC
• PHPLS
• GIC
• MIMMS
• HMIMMS
• Tele-Education
• Remote Skills
• Portfolio Project[15][16]

They also produce a suite of podcasts, which included various guest speakers form other emergency services, such as Police Scotland and HM Coastguard.

References

1. "Colville Laird retires from BASICS Scotland". Clinical Skills Managed Education Network. NHS Scotland.
2. Ian Greaves; Keith Porter; Keith M. Porter (2007). Oxford Handbook of Pre-Hospital Care. OUP Oxford. pp. 62–. ISBN 978-0-19-851584-5.
3. "Call for NHS to fund BASICS emergency doctors". BBC News. 22 September 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
4. Baker, Pete. "What to do if you're 'first on scene' to a motorcycle accident". Motorcycle News. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
5. Matt Burkes; Alec Logan (2 June 2014). The Good GP Training Guide. Royal College of General Practitioners. pp. 320–. ISBN 978-0-85084-394-1.
6. Scottish Ambulance Service (2009). Our Future Strategy Consultation Findings 2009 (PDF).
7. "The Scottish Trauma Network: Developments and impact" (PDF). Scottish Trauma Network. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
8. . The Sandpiper Trust http://www.sandpipertrust.org. Retrieved 31 May 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
9. "Sandpiper Bags". RCSEd. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
10. "Sandpiper Bags". Sandpiper Australia. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
11. "BASICS". The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners. 29 (200): 133–135. March 1979.
12. "Basics" (PDF). British Medical Journal. 2 (6142): 912. 30 September 1978. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.6142.912.
13. "BASICS SCOTLAND Company number SC226924". Companies House. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
14. Scottish Government. OUT-OF-HOSPITAL CARDIAC ARREST A STRATEGY FOR SCOTLAND (PDF).
15. Ford, Steve. "Emergency training scheme for nurses in remote Scottish areas". Nursing Times. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
16. BASICS Scotland. "BASICS Scotland Emergency Medicine Training Portfolio Project". BASICS Scotland. Retrieved 31 May 2020.

External links

• Official website