About us

BASICS Scotland is a charitable organisation based in Aberuthven, Perthshire.

BASICS Scotland is a Scottish charity, dedicated to providing specialist training for doctors, nurses and paramedics in Scotland, particularly those working in remote and rural locations.

Our support enables them to have the skills to perform vital pre-hospital emergency care. We are proud to provide a vital link within the ‘chain of survival’ and have a proven track record of effective delivery.

Since 1993, BASICS Scotland has provided a wide variety of courses aimed at the pre-hospital emergency/immediate medical care provider/responder in Scotland.  Our courses are of the highest quality, evidence based and are taught by multidisciplinary experts.  With courses are both face to face and online BASICS Scotland are able to support Drs, Nurses and Paramedics throughout Scotland who wish to be trained in pre-hospital care.   Development of our courses has continued throughout the years and with the support of NES (NHS Education Scotland), on our Pre-Hospital Emergency Care and Core Skills courses we can provide approximately 320 course places per year.

The provision of pre-hospital care in Scotland was significantly improved in 2001 by the formation of The Sandpiper Trust. This charitable organisation was formed to provide remote and rural medical practitioners with equipment that would allow them to provide immediate care at the scene. An early benefit of this organisation was the design of the Sandpiper Bag specifically for the use of remote and rural practitioners in Scotland. The Sandpiper Bag is now the recognised standard pre-hospital care equipment in Scotland and is used extensively on the BASICS Scotland courses. The Sandpiper Trust is a charitable organisation and relies on donations and proceeds from fundraising events to provide the Sandpiper Bags to the remote and rural practitioners. The partnership with the Sandpiper Trust and BASICS Scotland has resulted in almost over 1200 Sandpiper Bags being issued to BASICS Scotland Responders.