The conference includes interactive workshops, demonstrations  and plenary sessions covering a range of academic and practical pre-hospital care topics. 

Programme coming soon

The conference will be at Sketchley Grange Hotel & Spa, located in the countryside border between Leicestershire and Warwickshire.

Just minutes away from M69, under 10 miles from Leicester and Coventry, and less than 30 minutes to Birmingham NEC, Birmingham Airport, East Midlands Airport, Warwick and Stratford, Sketchley Grange Hotel & Spa is a convenient and easily accessed conference venue.

With ample free parking onsite for hotel guests (with limited EV charging points), Sketchley Grange has a free to use (for hotel guests) gym and swimming pool. Also available, at additional cost payable against your room, is a range of specialist beauty treatments along with manicures and pedicures, facials and massages.

Sketchley Grange Hotel & Spa
Sketchley Lane
Burbage
Hinckley
Leicestershire
LE10 2NG

For Sat Nav purposes please use LE10 2NG

Staying at the Sketchley Grange Hotel & Spa

Sketchley Grange Hotel & Spa, offers a competitive accommodation package for delegates until 10th September. If you wish to book please contact them directly by email (reservations@sketchleygrangehotel.co.uk) or by phone (01455 251 133) quoting reference BASICS2026 for their conference participant pricing. After this date, the usual rates will apply.

Getting to Sketchley Grange by plane

Birmingham is a major travel hub and offers rail and air links. Sketchley Grange is less than a 30 minute drive/taxi ride from Birmingham Airport and East Midlands Airport.

Getting to Sketchley Grange by train

The Sketchley Grange Hotel & Spa is a 5 minute taxi ride or 26 minute walk from Hinckley train station. Trains regularly run between Hinckley and Birmingham New Street stations.

Arriving by car

Use LE10 2NG as your Sat Nav address.

From the North

Exit the M1 at junction 21 onto the M69. Exit M69 at Junction 1. At roundabout, take the B4109 to Hinckley. Turn left at 2nd roundabout. Hotel is 400 yards on the left.

From the South

Exit the M1 at junction 18 onto the A5 North. At M69 intersection roundabout, take the B4109. Turn left at 2nd roundabout. Hotel is 400 yards on the left.

Join us on the Thursday evening of the conference for the Annual Awards Dinner, a great opportunity to network with fellow professionals and enjoy an evening of good company, food, and conversation. During this time a small group of individuals will be recognised for their contribution to the Association and to pre-hospital care.

Time & Venue

• 7:00pm drinks reception, followed by dinner at 7:30pm
• Sketchley Grange Hotel & Spa (Grove Suite)
• Thursday 8th October 2026

What to Expect

• Drinks reception to start the evening
• Three-course dinner with wine, followed by coffee
• Annual Awards Ceremony – celebrating excellence in pre-hospital care

Booking and Pricing

• £60 per person (includes dinner and drinks reception)
• Advance booking required – places are limited
• Add the Annual Dinner to your booking during the conference checkout

Additional Information

• Dietary requirements: Please advise when booking on the booking form.
• Dress Code: We have listened to feedback on the annual dinner dress code. Historically, this has always traditionally been a formal black-tie event. It is important that people attending feel comfortable, so we also welcome people to attend in smart evening wear, as an alternative to black-tie, with or without miniature medals. Military colleagues are also welcome to join in their mess dress.

Submit an abstract to enter our poster and lightning presentation competition.

If you have an interesting case study, audit series or research findings to report that concern pre-hospital care, then you are invited to submit your abstract using this downloadable form.

Accepted posters will be invited to be displayed and judged at the conference. A select number will also be invited to present a lightning presentation of 5 minutes at the conference on their findings (on the morning of Friday 9th October) in addition to their poster being displayed.

How do I enter?

• Complete this downloadable form and email it to conference@basics.org.uk
• Abstract forms must be received by Friday 17 July 2026.
• At least one of the authors must attend the conference.
• If accepted, you must send a digital pdf copy of your poster to conference@basics.org.uk by Tuesday 8 September. Please let us know if your poster cannot be promoted online for any reason.

How will my abstract be judged?

• Abstracts will be anonymised and then reviewed by the Conference Committee.
• Abstracts will be judged by their validity, importance and relevance to the fields of pre-hospital care. Particular focus will be on:
  • Scientific accuracy & depth
  • Relevance & impact for PHEM
  • Communication of key messages
• Authors will receive notification of their acceptance or rejection by Friday 31 July 2026. This notification will also include all the practical details and judging criteria.

How will my poster be judged at the conference?

• We will have a student prize for posters and lightning presentations, and an overall winner (which may also be a student if they scored sufficiently).
• Posters and lightning presentations will be judged by our judging panel, which includes the conference committee. See below the poster scoring criteria:

Poster Scoring Domains (0–5 each, total 25):

1. Visual presentation & design
2. Scientific accuracy & depth
3. Relevance & impact for PHEM
4. Communication of key messages
5. Oral explanation / engagement

Plus: Abstract score weighting (0–5)

Prizes

Lightning presentation prize: £250 Amazon voucher

Poster prize: £100 Amazon voucher

Jon Richards – Chair

Jon is a specialist paramedic – critical care with Yorkshire Ambulance Service. He is the lead paramedic for YAS-BASICS and is chair of the Yorkshire regional faculty of the Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care. He has a varied pre-hospital care career outside of the ambulance service, working in various event fields ranging from large scale festivals through to mountain marathons.

Dr Heather Reynolds

Heather has been part of the BASICS conference committee for the last three years and also represents the BASICS education team as one of their course instructors. She is an ST7 anaesthetic registrar in Sheffield, and serves a variety of pre-hospital roles. She has responded for the West Yorkshire Medic Response Team since 2018, completed a HEMS fellowship year with TAAS (The Air Ambulance Service) in 2025 and works as both a motorsports doctor and an expedition medic.

Ms Suzannah Hoult

Suzannah is a plastic surgeon with a special interest in hand surgery. The chair of BASICS Gloucestershire she is also a member of our teaching faculty.

John Carrie

John is a Critical Care Paramedic for the North West Pre-hospital Critical Care Charity, North West Air Ambulance and Secretary of BASICS North West. He has a background with one of the UK’s busiest Mountain Rescue Teams and is a former Army Reservist who deployed on two tours of Afghanistan.

Dr Abigail Dove

Abigail is a Foundation Doctor based in the West Midlands and at the start of her PHEM career. Her interest in pre-hospital care began during medical school, where she worked as a first responder and contributed to research in pre-hospital medicine and cardiac arrest, presenting some of her work at last year’s conference.

Dr Isra Hale

Isra is an Army Internal Medicine Trainee with experience delivering PHEC during UK and overseas deployments. She’s an England Boxing medical subcommittee member and has worked at domestic and international boxing events. She has a strong interest in improving the delivery of PHEC within the Field of Play.

Toby McClane

Toby is the Head of Education and Innovation at The Pre-Hospital Academy (Part of Spark Medical). He is a Paramedic with extensive experience in designing and developing various prehospital care education and training programmes. Toby has worked in a diverse range of prehospital care settings, including HM Coastguard and the Police. Toby is a visiting faculty member at the Scottish Ambulance Service’s EMRS and Air Ambulance Service. He also lectures at the University of Central Lancashire and instructs for HM Coastguard Search & Rescue Service.

I’m a nursing mum, can I attend?

Absolutely, there are quiet spaces available for feeding and changing and we want you to feel that you can come and enjoy the conference in a relaxed and welcoming way. If you contact us ahead of time at conference@basics.org.uk we’ll arrange for a seat near to an easy and accessible exit to be reserved for you so you can slip in and out as necessary (and we promise you won’t be pushed to the back).

I’m travelling by plane or train.

Birmingham is a major travel hub and offers rail and air links. Sketchley Grange is less than a 30 minute drive/taxi ride from Birmingham Airport and East Midlands Airport.

The Sketchley Grange Hotel & Spa is a 5 minute taxi ride or 26 minute walk from Hinckley train station. Trains regularly run between Hinckley and Birmingham New Street stations.

I’m travelling  by car, what’s the best route?

For travel by car, use any of the following to aid your navigation:

• Postcode: LE10 3HU
• What3Words: claims.racing.bride
• Coordinates 52.52453, -1.37694

Ample free parking is available on site.

From the North

Exit the M1 at junction 21 onto the M69. Exit M69 at Junction 1. At roundabout, take the B4109 to Hinckley. Turn left at 2nd roundabout. Hotel is 400 yards on the left.

From the South

Exit the M1 at junction 18 onto the A5 North. At M69 intersection roundabout, take the B4109. Turn left at 2nd roundabout. Hotel is 400 yards on the left.

Are there leisure facilities onsite at Sketchley Grange Hotel and Spa?

Yes, the hotel has swimming pool and gym facilities available to its guests free of charge. A spa offers a range of treatments by appointment booked from your room or at reception.

I’m planning on attending for the two days, do I have to stay at the Sketchley Grange Hotel and Spa?

No, we appreciate people have different needs and preferences, so please book wherever suits you.

I’m going to enter a poster, do I have to attend?

Yes. We recognise that often posters have multiple authors and ask that at least one author attends the conference.

I’m a member of the British Association for Immediate Care, do I need to prove it to get the discount?

Please select the Member ticket rate when booking. We will check your details against our member database. Please get in touch if you have recently changed your address or email address!

I’m a Faculty (FPHC) member, can I get a discount?

Yes, you are entitled to discounted rates. Simply provide your membership number when asked on the registration form and we will confirm your status with the FPHC.

I’m undertaking a post graduate course can I get the student discount?

No. If you already hold registration with the GMC, NMC or the HCPC, the students price is not available to you. If you are on one of the registers but studying for entry to another (i.e. a paramedic studying medicine) then you can claim the student discount.

I’m a BASICS scheme responder but not a member of the British Association for Immediate Care, can I still get the members discount?

No. You must be a member of the Association to qualify for the discount.

Our conference is extremely well focused and will bring you face-to-face with key decision makers from our own schemes and other areas of emergency care within the UK.

Our delegates come from a range of areas of practice and many come wearing a number of hats that include:

• Sports and event medicine
• NHS and private ambulance services
• HEMS services
• Immediate care schemes
• Specialist search & rescue organisations
• The military

This is a conference that keeps the focus on the exhibition with all of our registration, refreshment and lunch activities taking place within the exhibition area.

To find out more about the conference and the range of stand and sponsorship options availablle, please look at our brochure below:

Exhibitor Brochure

Current exhibitors include:

• ORTUS
• Reliance Medical
• WEL Medical
• West Craven Insurance
• Zoll
• Medisave
• HELP Appeal
• PROACT Medical
• Simulation Collective
• Medic One Systems
• PAX Bags
• Ruth Lee

To book email conference@basics.org.uk