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The British Association for Immediate Care (BASICS) is an organisation which has the stated aim to encourage and aid the formation and extension of immediate care schemes. The ''British Association for Immediate Care'' was founded as a charity in 1977 and combines bringing people together who have an interest in pre-hospital immediate care with supporting and promoting regional and local immediate care schemes across the UK. The organisation relies on volunteer medical professionals to provide healthcare assistance in support of the emergency services. It is registered as a
charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...
.


History

The British Association of Immediate Care Schemes was established in June 1977. Kenneth Easton, a
General Practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...
, was the first chairman of the organisation. Initially it was formed from the existing schemes. The organisation then offered individual membership to doctors that had an interest in immediate care, such as those working in General Practice, Surgery, Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Anaesthesia and Critical Care. Associate membership was open to paramedics and nurses which later again changed to offering full membership recognising the changing roles of these professions . In 1991, the organisation increased their involvement in educational aspects, making available residential courses covering pre-hospital care and resuscitation. Around this time, it became clear that Scotland had different requirements to the rest of the UK, and BASICS Scotland was formed. In 1998, the organisation brought in a scheme for its members to have voluntary accreditation. Further support for the work of BASICS during major incidents came after the
7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, also referred to as 7/7, were a series of four co-ordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamist terrorists that targeted commuters travelling on Transport in London, London's public transport during the ...
. The following year the
British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union and professional body for physician, doctors in the United Kingdom. It does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The BMA ...
announced their support for a series of training courses, over three years, to be organised by BASICS.


Purpose

BASICS is an association of
health care professionals Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, pain ...
, who undertake additional training as immediate care practitioners. The members provide their services in support of the statutory or voluntary
ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...
services. BASICS members are used to provide extra skills at the scene of major incidents, or for particularly difficult patients. For this, individuals may be summoned on a case-by-case basis by the local ambulance control centre.


Affiliated BASICS schemes

BASICS schemes across the country assist the ambulance service trusts where a multi-agency response is required at a local level, or additional skills and qualification levels are required. An example of this multi-agency response would be seen at an 'industrial accident' where for example a worker has become trapped in machinery. The ambulance service would work alongside the fire service to co-ordinate the rescue. Individual schemes can supplement the skill set available at scene with a
medical doctor A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...
, nurse or critical care paramedics, who can provide skills outside the remit of most front-line paramedics. These supplementary skills include different methods of providing
analgesia Pain management is an aspect of medicine and health care involving relief of pain (pain relief, analgesia, pain control) in various dimensions, from acute and simple to chronic and challenging. Most physicians and other health professionals ...
and, if necessary, surgical procedures which might be needed to extricate the patient. BASICS schemes may make use of all grades of
first responder A first responder is a person with specialized training who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance or incident resolution at the scene of an emergency. First responders typically include Law enforcement, law enforcement officers (co ...
including doctors, critical care paramedics, paramedics and nurses alongside community first responders.


Local schemes

BASICS-affiliated schemes across the UK include: While BASICS has individual members in Scotland, BASICS Scotland takes a lead role in providing prehospital training and supporting responders in Scotland.


Notable Individuals

Many of those who have worked or volunteered for BASICS have been awarded various awards or honours. * Mr Tony Kemp, MBE MStJ. Past chairman and responder to the Shoreham Airshow disaster. * Prof Tom Quinn, FRCN FESC. Emeritus Professor of Cardiovascular Nursing and Trustee of BASICS. * Dr Priscilla Noble-Mathews (d.2017), a founder of SIMCAS, and Royal Humane Society award winner. * Prof Sir Keith Porter: Honorary Officer: President


7/7 response 2005

Following the
7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, also referred to as 7/7, were a series of four co-ordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamist terrorists that targeted commuters travelling on Transport in London, London's public transport during the ...
, 17 doctors from HEMS London and BASICS London were deployed to the various attack sites to assist HEMS and
London Ambulance Service The London Ambulance Service NHS Trust (LAS) is an NHS trust responsible for operating ambulances and answering and responding to urgent and medical emergency, emergency medical situations within the Greater London, London region of England. The ...
paramedics. Gareth Davies (doctor) was the Medical Incident Officer for the Aldgate site, with David Wise fulfilling this role at Paddington, Tim Harris and Julian Redhead at Tavistock Square.


See also

*
College of Paramedics The College of Paramedics is the recognised professional body for paramedics in the United Kingdom. The role of the College is to promote and develop the profession across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The college represents ...
*
Highland PICT Team The 'Prehospital Immediate Care and Trauma'' (PICT) Team is a Emergency medical services, prehospital care team which operates from Raigmore Hospital emergency department in Inverness, Scotland. It receives funding from NHS Highland and the Scot ...


References


External links

* {{authority control Emergency medicine organisations Medical associations based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Suffolk First aid organizations Organizations established in 1977 1977 establishments in the United Kingdom