Press Release
13th December 2011
BASICS Essex Accident Rescue Service (BEARS) went fully operational for the first time on Monday 4th December 2011.
BEARS is a brand new charity in Essex formed from the merger of North East Essex Doctors Emergency Service (NEEDES) and Mid Essex Doctors Immediate Care scheme (MEDICS).
BEARS is a scheme of the National charity BASICS (British Association for Immediate Care)
The scheme is called out by The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust to patients that need an enhanced level of care following serious injury or illness. All the members are volunteer Doctors and Paramedics who have undergone additional training in Immediate Medical Care. Each member is equipped purely through donations at a cost of between £20-25,000.
The chair of BEARS Paul Gates said “Over the last 6-9 months we have worked closely with East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust to ensure we have the systems in place to provide this additional response to those that are critically injured or suffering severe illness. All members of the scheme are volunteers who give their time for free 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The equipment we each carry is paid for from donations as we receive no support from government or from the NHS”
For further information please contact Paul Gates, BEARS Chair on 07971 955689 or p.gates@rocketmail.com.