In a rare week of good news, BASICS Dorset has not only achieved Registered Charity status but also been recognised as an affiliated scheme by the BASICS South West committee.
In 2017, Dr Katie Muscroft and a band of willing volunteers set out to start bringing the BASICS pre-hospital medical service to Dorset. A year later the first BASICS medic logged on for duty in East Dorset, working as an outreach of Somerset Accident Volunteer Emergency Service. BASICS Dorset was founded as a charitable organisation to raise funds to cover the expenses of getting BASICS medics ready for duty in the county.
Despite 2020 being our busiest year of call outs to date, the national restrictions brought in to control the pandemic threatened to scupper our aim of registering with Charities House. Gaining Registered Charity status is dependent on a minimum fundraising level. Several local charitable trusts were approached and thanks to their generosity, in September we passed the minimum threshold. Several new trustees were recruited to the board and in February we finally achieved Registered Charity status.
Two weeks later, the committee of BASICS South West unanimously agreed that BASICS Dorset had met the criteria for affiliation with the BASICS national network. To mark the achievement, we have rebranded with a new logo featuring the county flag of Dorset and relaunched our website.
Dr Katie Muscroft, Chair of BASICS Dorset: "It's been long journey since we set out to bring a BASICS service to patients here in Dorset. Thanks to the support of our local ambulance crews and the staff at SWASFT we have made this happen. Several local charitable trusts and societies have really come through for us during the pandemic and helped us clear these last hurdles. We are now in a good position to expand the service and help more patients in Dorset when and wherever they need it. I'd like to especially thank the team at SAVES for allowing us to start our work here in Dorset."
Comments