BASICS in Hampshire and the Thames Valley region
The British Association of Immediate Care Schemes (BASICS)
BASICS started in 1977 with General Practitioners assisting at the scene of horrific road traffic collisions, and developed with local schemes assisting the NHS ambulance services across the country, particularly in rural and suburban areas. Since then, ambulance care in the UK has developed immensely and a number of BASICS schemes are still active as local clinicians helping the community with the same volunteer spirit of using their knowledge and skills to look after critically unwell patients in the pre-hospital phase of care.
BASICS Thames Valley
South Central Ambulance Service has had a long history of volunteer doctors providing care to patients at their request, dating back to before the merger of the ambulance services covering the Thames Valley region; Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
Much of the work done by these clinicians over a number of decades has largely gone unnoticed often as doctors respond in their own unmarked cars, merge well with ambulance clinical teams on the ground and respond in their own time, leaving little room for publicity and fundraising.
