BEEP (BASICS) Cumbria, a group of volunteer emergency medics, has received a donation for £20,851.76 from the British Association for Immediate Care. The donation was made possible after the group successfully bid from an annual pot of £250,000, which is given to the British Association for Immediate Care every year by the County Air Ambulance HELP Appeal – the only charity in-country dedicated to funding NHS hospital helipads.
The grant will be used to kit out several emergency vehicles with essential blue lights and sirens as well as other equipment needed on the vehicle for responding to emergencies and for PPE. BEEP Doctors received a grant in June 2020 to kit out one vehicle, this second grant will help equip several more. The charity based near Penrith, is a lifeline to many hundreds of patients involved in serious incidents across Cumbria. In 2020 the team has been called to 165 incidents so far, including road traffic collisions, farming accidents or other life-threatening medical emergencies. The Beep Doctors are all unpaid and are on call 24/7 – even during the Pandemic, when many of them have been working in hospitals and the local community.
Every doctor on call attending such incidents must be prepared with vital lifesaving equipment, which runs into thousands of pounds. Paramedics are very well trained and able to deal with the vast majority of emergencies that they are called to; however, the BEEP Doctors have specialist training in enhanced pre-hospital emergency care and provide an extra level of medical intervention not normally available until the patient reaches hospital.
Dr Theo Weston, Founder of the BEEP Doctors charity, commented:
“This grant means such a lot to our charity and has come at just the right time for us. BEEP Doctors are going through a very exciting change and expansion with several more Doctors starting to respond for us, so that we are now significantly increasing our cover throughout Cumbria. This donation will consolidate these changes with immediate effect and will really help us to move forward towards providing a much more comprehensive cover for the whole of this region. This grant has given the whole team an enormous boost, especially at such a difficult time.”
Robert Bertram, Chief Executive of the County Air Ambulance HELP Appeal, said:
“It’s a pleasure to find out the huge difference this donation will make in helping the selfless BEEP doctors reach an incident quickly and safely, particularly throughout the cold and dark winter months ahead.
“The HELP Appeal focuses on saving time to save patients’ lives, whilst upholding the highest of safety standards for medical professionals and this donation to BEEP Doctors ensures that our mission continues.”
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