British Association for Immediate Care

BASICS

Full name	British Association for Immediate Care
Founded	1977
Key people	James Hickman, Chairman Tony Kemp, Vice-Chairman
Office location	England, UK
Country	United Kingdom
Website	BASICS

The British Association for Immediate Care (BASICS) is a registered charity^[1] which aims to encourage and aid the formation and extension of Immediate Care Schemes and strengthen and develop co-operation between schemes providing Immediate Care and the statutory emergency services. The organisation relies on volunteer medical professionals and Allied Health Professionals to provide immediate healthcare assistance in support of the emergency services.^[2][3] It is based in Ipswich.

Purpose

BASICS 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.^[4]

BASICS aims to be:^[2]

1. A professional body to represent members interests
2. An operational body to facilitate the individual schemes
3. A training body to further knowledge amongst its members
4. An advisory body for its members and other stakeholders

BASICS provide a member of the JRCALC members section to aid in the development of clinical guidelines for UK paramedics and EMTs.

Road Traffic Collision.

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. Further support for the work of BASICS during major incidents came following the July 7th terrorist attacks on London, when the British Medical Association started a series of training courses (over 3 years) to be organised by BASICS.^[5]

The 7/7 London Bombings.

They also work at private events, often alongside the voluntary ambulance services (Red Cross and St John Ambulance) or the statutory service. This means that BASICS members can be found at events such as:

• large sporting events (including Football Association matches)^[6]
• major incidents
• public rallies
• road traffic collisions
• mass gathering events
• concerts

Local applications

BASICS 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.^[7] BASICS can supplement the skill set available at scene with a medical doctor, who can provide skills outside the remit of paramedics, such as different methods of providing analgesia and, if necessary, surgical procedures which might be needed to extricate the patient.

Local schemes

BASICS-affiliated schemes across the UK include:^[8]

• Lincolnshire Integrated Voluntary Emergency Service
• Magpas
• Suffolk Accident Rescue Service
• MedAlert
• SWIFT Medics Wiltshire
• Mercia Accident Rescue Service
• West Midlands CARE Team

Many of the UK air ambulance organisations are affiliated to BASICS.

Staffing

Doctors

BASICS started up as a small number of General Practitioners who were concerned about the immediate care that car crash victims were receiving.^[9] Their goal was to bring increased clinical expertise to the scene on a voluntary basis. Now BASICS Doctors come from a wide range of specialities, including: General Practice, Surgery, Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Anaesthesia & Critical Care.

Nurses

Nurses who specialise in pre-hospital care play an important in the delivery of patient care in the prehospital arena. Some Nurses working in pre-hospital care are able to work at Advanced Nurse Practitioner level with a high degrees of clinical autonomy and decision making, some are also independent prescribers.

Paramedics

Being the primary Pre-Hospital medical care provider in the UK, Paramedics are a valued part of BASICS schemes. Many have undertaken additional training and education to become Critical Care Paramedics with an extended range of pharmacology and potentially life saving interventions to complement those of their colleagues. Some Paramedics respond autonomously under BASICS schemes, whilst others respond in Paramedic/Doctor teams.

Combat Medical Technicians

Combat Medical Technicians are also welcome members of BASICS and bring a high degree of knowledge and experience to BASICS.

References

External links

• British Association for Intermediate Care