BEEP Doctors, a charity based near Penrith, have this week received a grant for £6404.71 from the British Association for Immediate Care.
BEEP Doctors began in 1994 with only 3 doctors and covered a 15 mile radius of Penrith. Now there are 10 volunteer doctors on the team who cover the majority Cumbria, including the north and west of the county as well as south west Scotland and south Lakeland.
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. They attend serious incidents in the county including road traffic collisions, farming accidents or other life-threatening medical emergencies, as well as major Incidents.
Everyone who is part of the BEEP Doctors is unpaid, but there are ongoing costs for continuous doctor training, the updating of protective clothing and medical equipment, and kitting out the doctors vehicles.
The grant from The British Association for Immediate Care is greatly received from BEEP and will be used to kit out an emergency vehicle with essential blue lights & sirens as well as other equipment needed on the vehicle for responding to emergencies. The grant has come at a time when many charities are facing hardship and difficult times – according to Virgin Money Giving charities saw a 93% fall in donations in early lockdown.
Dr Theo Weston, Founder of the BEEP Doctors charity, said: “Any funding we receive is always greatly appreciated, but especially welcome during the Pandemic. We, like any other charity must continue to fundraise, but with less events taking place and less people donating it is certainly going to be a difficult year for everyone. The equipment we use at BEEP comes with a significant cost, but is essential to ensure our doctors on call have the best gear to give our patients a greater chance of survival.”
About the grant
This financial year a total of £250,000 has been distributed to thirteen affiliated schemes through the grant from the British Association for Immediate Care, which is enabled by a very generous donation from the HELP Appeal.
Most recently, six schemes based in Cornwall, Dorset, Avon, Lincolnshire, Mercia (Hereford & Worcestershire) and BEEP in Cumbria, have benefited with grants totalling over £32,000. The grants provide for the costs associated with the equipping and maintenance of vehicles used by scheme members to provide voluntary pre-hospital immediate care on behalf of local NHS Ambulance Trusts as part of their 999-emergency response.
Paul Gates, the Chairman of the British Association for Immediate Care said: “These grants make a huge difference to our schemes and are used to purchase response vehicles, equip vehicles with blue light warning equipment, sat-nav etc, without which, we would not be able to undertake our voluntary role. The HELP Appeal’s generosity enables our members to save lives through having safely equipped and maintained vehicles which are so essential to their role.”
About the British Association for Immediate Care
The British Association for Immediate Care is a UK-wide charity that was founded in 1977. It is a membership association and an internationally recognised leading provider of specialist pre-hospital care educational courses.
The Association’s membership encompasses medical, nursing and paramedical professionals who provide voluntary pre-hospital critical-care to emergency patients through a network of affiliated immediate care schemes working with the NHS Ambulance trusts in their localities. The Association also includes members from outside these professions who have an interest in, and practice pre-hospital care as part of their employment (such as with the ambulance service, the military medical services, sports medicine, allied emergency services etc) or voluntary service provision (including with the major first aid organisations, in search and rescue services etc).
The BEEP fund website can be found at www.beepfund.org.uk.
