BASICS Cornwall’s volunteer Doctors support South Western Ambulance Service at incidents across Cornwall.

Our Doctors respond when they are able and attend incidents in their own vehicles. BASICS Cornwall raises money to fund their equipment and training. We also provide the clinical governance for our Doctors.

We receive no government or NHS funding. To fully equip a new Doctor it costs up to £20,000.

Emergency Response

When a 999 call is placed South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) triages the call to decide what level of response is needed. If it is a significant incident, such as cardiac arrest or multi-vehicle road traffic collision, they will page our doctors directly. Our doctor would then respond under blue lights to the incident along with SWASFT crews and other emergency services.

We can also be activated directly by ambulance crews at incidents who feel that their patient would benefit from the additional skills that we can deliver.

Our doctors can provide emergency procedures, such as general anaesthetics and surgical procedures wherever the incident may be. They can then accompany the patient to the most appropriate hospital.

We work closely with all of the emergency services, and in particular SWASFT and Cornwall Air Ambulance.