History

This Immediate Care Scheme has been in operation since 1984, and its aim is to provide skilled medical help at the scene of serious traumatic and medical emergencies and during transportation to hospital.

Originally known as "The Workington and Cockermouth District Accident and Emergency Scheme", the area covered has gradually extended. Maryport was the first additional area and in 1991 two of the doctors from Aspatria joined to extend our scheme boundary northwards. It was then that the current Scheme name was adopted. Since the end of 1992 our area of operations has expanded yet again, taking in an area south of our original boundary to the village of Bootle. This extension was possible because a Consultant in Accident and Emergency based at West Cumberland Hospital joined our number. Since that time two other doctors have joined the Whitehaven area of the scheme, all based in Accident & Emergency at the West Cumberland Hospital - this being an Associate Specialist & a second Consultant. In 2006 a third doctor has joined the Aspatria area of the scheme. It is not planned to rename the Scheme again despite the operational area now including a large part of Copeland. This is because of the not inconsiderable cost implications and the need to change our registration with The Charities Commission again.

All operational doctors provide their services on a voluntary basis and in addition to their normal work. It is hoped that other local doctors will also offer to give their commitment to the Scheme so that an even more extensive provision of Immediate Care can be established.

Scheme doctors are mobilised by Cumbria Ambulance Service NHS Trust Control by radio-pager and communication with "control" is by two-way radio. The Scheme works very closely with all the emergency services and the staff of West Cumberland Hospital and a Scheme sub-committee has been formed to develop more integrated inter-service training. Training and education is one of the most rapidly developing aspects of Immediate Care nationally and this scheme is committed to the specialist training of its operational doctors. This scheme also aims to assist members of the other emergency services in the extension of their special skills in the field of pre-hospital emergency patient care.

The specialist equipment, both medical and non-medical, carried by scheme doctors has all been provided by voluntary contributions from the general public, local industry and local and county councils. The special kit issued to each scheme doctor costs approximately £6000 with certain doctors who possess special skills having additional personal equipment issued to them. The annual cost of replacement of obsolete kit, radio-pager rental and insurance for equipment and personnel is approximately £4000. In 1993 the scheme undertook a major improvement of communication equipment at a cost of nearly £7000.

Serious medical and traumatic incidents continue to provide us with an average of approximately seven calls per week. Many people imagine that schemes like ours attend only road accidents. It is true that the majority of our calls are to road accidents but we are often called to works accidents, fires, drowning and 'near-drownings", collapses and to a whole diversity of other incidents, which have included firearms incidents and a significant number of explosions. Doctors from this Scheme played a significant role in the support of the emergency services during the extreme weather conditions that have occurred in the past few years.

In addition to this "routine" Immediate Care cover, this scheme has the responsibility to provide the "Medical Incident Officer" at a major incident anywhere in the area served by West Cumberland Hospital should we be so unfortunate as to experience such an event. Scheme doctors receive special training in this very important management skill.