BASICS Ambulance North East launch invite

21 March 2016

MEDIA INVITE

WHAT:    
      
A 19 year old charity, which brings together medical professionals who volunteer their time to
provide pre-hospital emergency care and medicine in partnership with North East Ambulance Service (NEAS), is reforming after 6 years of being dormant.

BASICS Ambulance North East will work with NEAS to improve the outcomes of patients suffering cardiac arrest, trauma and severe medical emergencies.  It will also create more development opportunities for junior doctors, nurses and paramedics to experience pre-hospital care.

The charity is reforming ahead of Easter weekend, one of the busiest weekends of the year for North East Ambulance Service, when volunteers will complete their first shifts responding to patients in the north and south of the region.

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY WITH THE TEAM

WHO:    
        
Chair of BASICS Ambulance North East, Andy Thomas

Consultant paramedic from North East Ambulance Service, Paul Aitken-Fell

WHEN:          

Wednesday 23rd March 2016, 10-10.45am

WHERE:       

Moongate House, Team Valley, Gateshead, NE11 0HF

ENDS

Media contact: Sam Reed at North East Ambulance Service, sam.reed@neas.nhs.uk, Tel: 0191 4302007 or Mobile: 07972 111131

Notes to editors:

More information about BASICS Ambulance North East at www.basicsne.org or follow on Twitter: @BASICSAmbNE.  To support the charity visit: https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/BASICSNE

About North East Ambulance Service:

North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (NEAS) covers 3,200 square miles across the North East region.  It employs more than 2,500 staff and serves a population of 2.7 million people by handling all NHS 111 and 999 calls for the region, operating patient transport and ambulance response services, delivering training for communities and commercial audiences and providing medical support cover at events.

In 2014/15 the service answered 1.107 million emergency 999 and NHS 111 calls, responded to 302,687 incidents that resulted in a patient being taken to hospital, treated and discharged 18,144 patients with telephone advice and treated and discharged 81,990 patients at home.  In the same year, emergency care crews reached 134,745 incidents within the national target of 8 minutes.