Saving lives since 1994
For many years, Cumbria’s geography made serious accidents and medical emergencies perilous for visitors and residents alike. There was urgent need for an emergency doctor call out service for the county.
The BEEP Fund, as it was originally known, was set up to develop an immediate care service for Penrith. It was provided by Penrith and District Accident Scheme (at that time the Birbeck Medical Centre in Penrith).
BEEP stood for Birbeck Emergency Equipment for Patients. Now we cover the whole of Cumbria, and have evolved into the familiar BEEP Doctors (Basics) Cumbria Ltd.
‘We felt there was a need to take the scheme a step further. We bought more sophisticated equipment and a dedicated vehicle (the Immediate Response Vehicle) which was capable of carrying this equipment to wherever it was needed. This vehicle is kept in Penrith and attends road traffic accidents and many other medical emergencies in the area.’
Dr Theo Weston MBE
BEEP Doctor and Chairman
Since it began, BEEP Doctors (BASICs) Cumbria has moved on from just three Doctors in a 15 mile operating radius around Penrith, to fourteen highly trained Doctors. Each BEEP Fund Doctor’s car is equipped with “Blues and Twos” and emergency equipment.
BEEP Doctors now cover all of Cumbria from the South Lakes up to the Scottish Borders. This provides a local service to most of Cumbria’s communities bringing expert, urgent medical care to patients at the scene of an accident or emergency.
BEEP Doctors (BASICs) Cumbria was also a founding member of BASICs NW [British Association for Immediate Care NW]. This is a confederation of similar BASICs teams across the region, which has the aim of standardising procedures across the various teams. BASICs NW is also affiliated to the national BASICs organisation.
At BEEP Doctors we strive towards giving the people of Cumbria access to the best possible pre-hospital emergency care (PHEM). We do this through a robust system of training, governance, quality assurance and service continuity. Our volunteer doctors work to support the ambulance service to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients.
The importance of pre hospital care cannot be over stated… and the impact of doctors on pre hospital care is immense. They can bring many of the facilities and skills of the A&E unit to the scene of the accident. This provides extra support to highly skilled paramedics and air ambulance staff.
Our aim is to provide enhanced pre-hospital care to all patients who need it across the region of Cumbria. This is a 24 hour service, not limited by location, time of day, or day of the week.
