Our region
The North West of England
The North West's population of approximately 7 million people are served by multiple pre-hospital healthcare providers.
Details of these can be found below...
British Association of Immediate Care (BASICS)
Founded in 1977, BASICS charity is made up of associated schemes situated around the whole of the UK. They deliver pre-hospital care and education through local volunteers.
Those operating in the North West are overseen by BASICS North West, made up of the following groups...
North West Pre-hospital Critical Care Charity
The North West Pre-hospital Critical Care Charity (NWPCCC) provide specialist volunteer Doctors, Paramedics and Nurses to support the ambulance and rescue services. They bring advanced medical care to the communities of Cheshire, Merseyside, Manchester, Lancashire or further afield if needed.
Responding either in one of the team's two response cars or from home in their own vehicles, NWPCCC can provide enhanced pre-hospital care when required.
BEEP Doctors
Founded in 1994, BEEP doctors provides specialist, volunteer pre-hospital emergency medicine doctors to the people of Cumbria.
Available 24hrs a day, 365 days a year, the team respond in one of the team's three rapid response cars or in their own vehicles. They cover all of Cumbria from the South Lakes up to the Scottish Borders, providing a vital resource in a geographically challenging area.
Air Ambulance
Our region is mainly served by 2 air ambulance services, both relying on charity funding.
North West Air Ambulance
Launched in 1999, the North West Air Ambulance provides highly skilled specialist doctors and HEMS paramedics on board providing enhanced pre-hospital care and hospital transfers to patients across the entire North West.
Having attended over 24,500 jobs since its inception, NWAA operates 3 helicopters from 2 airbases - one in Barton just outside Manchester and one in Blackpool.
The charity needs to raise over £18 million a year to remain operational.
Great North Air Ambulance Service
Initially founded in 1991 to provide the first air ambulance to the North East of England, GNAAS has since expanded considerably. With two bases, one in the North East in Eaglescliffe and one located near Penrith, GNAAS provides a HEMS service to the most northerly part of our region.
Operating 3 helicopters and 2 rapid response vehicles, GNAAS has the ability to provide an enhanced pre-hospital care service of doctors and paramedics to those in need.
Ambulance Service
The North West Ambulance Services provides an NHS ambulance service to the population of the North West.
North West Ambulance Service
The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) serves more than seven million people across approximately 5,400 square miles. They receive approximately 1.7 million 999 calls and make more than 1.3 million patient transport journeys each year.
NWAS delivers a wide range of services, from Urgent & Emergency Care, Patient Transport Services and Community First Responders.
Faculty of Pre-hospital Care
A faculty of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the Faculty of Pre-hospital care aims to set and maintain clinical standards for all practitioners in this evolving specialty.
Major Trauma Networks & Transfer Teams
Across the North West there are multiple Major Trauma networks designed to improve the quality of care to this sub-set of patients. Alongside this, there are highly skilled transfer teams to transport patients to specialist centres.
Greater Manchester Major Trauma Network
The aim of the Greater Manchester Major Trauma Network is to improve care for Major Trauma patients. They do this by ensuring the delivery of effective and safe patient pathways so that patients within the network region can access expert care for their injuries.
Lancashire & South Cumbria Critical Care and Major Trauma Specialist Networks
Established in 2013. the Lancashire & South Cumbria Major Trauma Network was founded. This collaborated with the Critical Care Network in 2019. They facilitate the delivery of effective and safe patient pathways so that patients within Lancashire & South Cumbria can access expert care for their injuries in the right place.
North West Children's Major Trauma Network
Th North West Children's Major Trauma Network was set up to co-ordinate care for children in the North West of England, North Wales and the Isle of Man who have experienced Major Trauma. The network sees approximately 1 child a day with major trauma injuries.
North West & North Wales Paediatric Transfer Service (NWTS)
A collaborative venture between Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and Alder Hey Children's Hospital, NWTS has been commissioned to transfer critically ill children from District General Hospitals to one of the two Paediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) within the North West and North Wales area.
Rescue Teams
Our region is lucky enough to benefit from beautiful scenery. This terrain can pose a challenge for responders. Thankfully, there are several rescue teams who volunteer to care for those in trouble.
Mountain Rescue - England & Wales
47 Mountain Rescue Teams (MRTs) based across 8 geographical regions in England & Wales provide a 24/7, 365 days of the year service to recover climbers from precipitous crags, reunite lost walkers with their friends and ensure injured and sick casualties are safely delivered into vital hospital care.
Search & Rescue - Cheshire
Cheshire Search and Rescue is a team of volunteers, on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Ready to deploy at any time, in any weather.
The primary function of the team is to assist Cheshire Police with searches for vulnerable, missing people. But the team also has capability for flood response, evidence searching and assisting other emergency services as the need arises.
Covering all 904 square miles (2.34 billion square metres) of Cheshire, the varied terrain includes rural land, towns and cities, moorland, forest, and some very steep ground.
Search & Rescue - Merseyside
Merseyside Lowland Search and Rescue work in close partnership with Merseyside Police to provide specialised search teams and cutting-edge equipment to locate high-risk, vulnerable, and missing persons within Merseyside.
The team of volunteers is on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.