Sandpiper Trust

Last updated
Sandpiper Trust
Formation20 February 2001
Legal statusActive
PurposeThe advancement of health
Headquarters Aberuthven
Location
Region served
Scotland
Trustees
  • Penny Dickson
  • Aly Dickson
  • Claire Maitland
  • Caroline Ross-Stewart
CEO
Lorna Duff
Affiliations
Staff
6
Website www.sandpipertrust.org OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Sandpiper Trust is a Scottish-based charity whose aims are related to improving pre-hospital immediate care in remote and rural Scotland. It receives no Government, NHS or Local Authority funding. [1] They are a major supporter of BASICS Scotland.

Contents

History and origin

Sandpiper Trust was founded in 2001 after the tragic death of a 14-year-old child called Sandy Dickson in an accident in 2000. [2] This accident highlighted to the founders (his family) that critical illness does not respect geography, and that an ambulance can not always be rapidly accessible when accidents occur in remote and rural areas. [3]

This led the trust to provide life-saving emergency medical equipment (in the Sandpiper Bag) to rural clinicians. [4] With the hope of enabling the provision of prehospital emergency care in situations where ambulance response times are long, or where the skills of a senior clinician (doctor, nurse or paramedic) may be a valuable augmentation to the statutory ambulance service, the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Sandpiper Trust also provides BASICS Scotland volunteer responders with the technology to connect them to the Scottish Ambulance Service despatch system, monitor their location for safety purposes, and allow communication with the ambulance control room and other emergency services. Currently a number of responders are provided with Airwave digital radios, while others have vehicle locator systems.

Sandpiper Trust logo on a responder's jacket Sandpiper Trust Jacket.jpg
Sandpiper Trust logo on a responder's jacket

Key individuals

The patron of Sandpiper Trust since its inception has been Gavin Hastings. [5] [1] Hastings has hosted many events for The Sandpiper trust and continues to generously devote his time and energy to supporting the Trust.

The trust has four trustees; Penny Dickson, Aly Dickson, Claire Maitland and Caroline Ross-Stewart. It also has two medical advisors, to ensure they are able to facilitate rural immediate medical care to the best of their abilities, these are: Dr Ewen McLeod and Dr Ben Price.[ citation needed ]

Charitable objectives

Sandpiper Trust has four core objectives. Firstly to work towards the relief of the suffering (from illness or injury) of people in Scotland through the provision of immediate medical care, secondary to facilitate the advancement of the study of immediate medical care through the provision of education and training across Scotland. Thirdly the provision of medical equipment to facilitate the first objective and finally, relieving human suffering through the promotion of medical research. [6]

BASICS Scotland Doctor equipped with a response bag and clothing from The Sandpiper Trust BASICS Scotland Doctor.jpg
BASICS Scotland Doctor equipped with a response bag and clothing from The Sandpiper Trust

Fundraising

Sandpiper Cookbook

As part of their fund-raising activities, Sandpiper Trust produced their own cookbook, compiled by Claire Maitland and published by Finks Publishing in 2009. [7] It includes recipes from a wide range of authors/chefs including Gordon Ramsay, it also contains a number of cocktails (including Tiger Woods exclusive wedding cocktail) and unusually for a cookbook, essential emergency medical tips.

The Swallow, The Owl and The Sandpiper

The trust also produced this text in 2013, described as "A collection of thought provoking prose and poetry, to help provide comfort, strength and support during difficult times", and listed as a motivational self-help guide on Amazon. It is ranked at number 29 in the amazon best-sellers list for poetry anthologies. [8]

Other fundraising activities

In addition to sales of these two books, the trust also receives donations from organisations and individuals, [9] and in 2021 a Highlands family raised a significant amount for the charity through open water swimming. [10]

The charity also regularly runs charity auctions to raise money, and has been donated auction items such as handwritten lyrics from Annie Lennox, [11] luxury Scottish fishing trips, [12] and sculptures, among other things. [13] [14]

Projects

Sandpiper Bag

The Sandpiper emergency medicines pouch with Sandpiper Bags in the background Sandpiper Drug Pouch.jpg
The Sandpiper emergency medicines pouch with Sandpiper Bags in the background

Sandpiper Trust has developed the internationally respected[ who? ] Sandpiper Bag, which is used across Scotland by BASICS Scotland responders, [15] in Australia through the newly formed charity Sandpiper Australia [3] [16] and is the official immediate care bag for the Faculty of Prehospital Care examinations at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. [17]

Each bag contains over 50 items of life-saving medical equipment, [18] [4] these are organised into removable pouches, allowing them to be passed out to different team members to facilitate parallel working in acute situations. [19] To date over a thousand Sandpiper Bags have been distributed across Scotland and beyond. [20] The 1000th bag was presented by Elizabeth II in 2016. [21]

Sandpiper Emergency Medicines Pouch

In 2021 The Sandpiper Trust funded and in conjunction with BASICS Scotland, developed the Emergency Medicines pouch for active BASICS Scotland volunteer responders. [22] The drug pouch contains an array of medicines required for the initial management and stabilisation of critically unwell patients across rural Scotland.

Wildcat Project

The Sandpiper Wildcat Project was a research programme [23] focussing on saving lives after out of hospital cardiac arrest, through optimising the chain of survival in rural Grampian, Scotland. [24] [25] [26] The driving hypothesis being that providing enhanced training and equipment a team of volunteer community first responders, who are then targeted to areas where Scottish Ambulance Service response times can be prolonged would lead to earlier, effective resuscitation, hopefully resulting in improved patient outcomes. [27] The project won the Blue Light Hero award at the Pride of Aberdeen awards in 2017. [28] [29]

COVID-19 pandemic response

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the trust distributed over 700 pulse oximeters to remote and rural GP practices throughout Scotland, to aid with the diagnosis of, and subsequent monitoring of patients affected by COVID-19. These have been used in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, Coll, Arran, Tomintoul, Killin, Callander, Strachur, Mull, Galloway, Kenmay, Skye and other practices throughout Grampian. [30]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency medical services</span> Services providing acute medical care

Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. They may also be known as a first aid squad, FAST squad, emergency squad, ambulance squad, ambulance corps, life squad or by other initialisms such as EMAS or EMARS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paramedics in the United States</span> Overview of paramedics in the United States of America

In the United States, the paramedic is a allied health professional whose primary focus is to provide advanced emergency medical care for patients who access Emergency Medical Services (EMS). This individual possesses the complex knowledge and skills necessary to provide patient care and transportation. Paramedics function as part of a comprehensive EMS response under physician medical direction. Paramedics often serve in a prehospital role, responding to Public safety answering point (9-1-1) calls in an ambulance. The paramedic serves as the initial entry point into the health care system. A standard requirement for state licensure involves successful completion of a nationally accredited Paramedic program at the certificate or associate degree level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Ambulance Service</span> Scotlands public ambulance services

The Scottish Ambulance Service is part of NHS Scotland, which serves all of Scotland's population. The Scottish Ambulance Service is governed by a special health board and is funded directly by the Health and Social Care Directorates of the Scottish Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yorkshire Ambulance Service</span> UK public sector provider of ambulance services in Yorkshire, England (2006- )

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS) is the NHS ambulance service covering most of Yorkshire in England. It is one of ten NHS Ambulance Trusts providing England with emergency medical services as part of the National Health Service it receives direct government funding for its role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom</span>

Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom provide emergency care to people with acute illness or injury and are predominantly provided free at the point of use by the four National Health Services (NHS) of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is only free to UK residents and a charge may be made to those not entitled to free NHS care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency medical personnel in the United Kingdom</span> People engaged in the provision of emergency medical services

Emergency medical personnel in the United Kingdom are people engaged in the provision of emergency medical services. This includes paramedics, emergency medical technicians and emergency care assistants. 'Paramedic' is a protected title, strictly regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council, although there is tendency for the public to use this term when referring to any member of ambulance staff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Association for Immediate Care</span>

The British Association for Immediate Care (BASICS) is an organisation which has the stated aim to encourage and aid the formation and extension of immediate care schemes. The British Association for Immediate Care was founded as a charity in 1977 and combines bringing people together who have an interest in pre-hospital immediate care with supporting and promoting regional and local immediate care schemes across the UK.

Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK) is a healthcare charity focused on resuscitation education and training for healthcare professionals and bystander CPR awareness for the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency Medical Retrieval Service</span>

The Emergency Medical Retrieval Service (EMRS) is part of ScotSTAR retrieval service. The EMRS provides aeromedical critical care retrieval and pre-hospital care to people in Scotland in the form of two retrieval teams. The service provides patients in remote and rural areas with rapid access to the skills of a consultant or senior doctor in emergency medicine, intensive care medicine or anaesthesia, and facilitates transfers to larger, better equipped urban hospitals. The EMRS functions supplementary to the regular Scottish Ambulance Service Air Ambulance service. Unlike air ambulance services in other parts of the UK, EMRS has no dedicated aircraft but both EMRS North and West are funded by the Scottish Government. The EMRS has featured on the Channel 5 documentary series Highland Emergency, which charts the work of rescue services in the Scottish Highlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincolnshire Integrated Voluntary Emergency Service</span>

Lincolnshire Integrated Voluntary Emergency Service, known commonly as LIVES, is a registered charity staffed by volunteers providing pre-hospital care services across Lincolnshire. LIVES operates alongside the East Midlands Ambulance Service to provide clinical and critical care skills as well as immediate medical responses in the form of community first responders. LIVES operates under the national pre-hospital care co-ordinating body, the British Association for Immediate Care. LIVES is a registered provider of healthcare with the Care Quality Commission

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suffolk Accident Rescue Service</span> UK registered charity

The Suffolk Accident Rescue Service (SARS) is a registered charity supported by donations, which assists the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust in providing medical care at the scene of accidents and emergencies in Suffolk and surrounding counties. The organisation relies on volunteer medical professionals and Allied Health Professionals to provide this service on an entirely voluntary basis. The headquarters are in Woolpit. It is an affiliated member of the British Association for Immediate Care.

Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT) is a charity air ambulance service providing a free, life-saving Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) for the critically ill and injured of Essex, Hertfordshire and surrounding areas.

Mercia Accident Rescue Service is a BASICS affiliated charity operation based on providing a fast-response, advanced medical team to back up the emergency services of the English counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The charity aims to provide an organisational framework within which practitioners can be properly trained and equipped to provide prehospital care, its work is supported by local fundraising. MARS is staffed by a team of 11 doctors and two advanced clinical practitioners.

The West Midlands Central Accident, Resuscitation & Emergency (CARE) team is a charitable organisation who respond to serious medical incidents within the West Midlands, UK. Working in teams alongside West Midlands Ambulance Service, volunteer doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals deliver enhanced critical care to seriously injured and unwell patients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-hospital emergency medicine</span>

Pre-hospital emergency medicine, also referred to as pre-hospital care, immediate care, or emergency medical services medicine, is a medical subspecialty which focuses on caring for seriously ill or injured patients before they reach hospital, and during emergency transfer to hospital or between hospitals. It may be practised by physicians from various backgrounds such as anaesthesiology, emergency medicine, intensive care medicine and acute medicine, after they have completed initial training in their base specialty.

Scottish Specialist Transport and Retrieval (ScotSTAR) is the Scottish national service for adult, paediatric and neonatal patients. The service is run by the Scottish Ambulance Service and brings together NHS Scotland's three specialist transport and retrieval services: the Scottish Neonatal Transport Service (SNTS), the Transport of Critically Ill and Injured Children Service and the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service (EMRS). The service operates from a bespoke base near Glasgow and expects to be able to cater for 2,200 critically ill children and adults every year.

Intermediate Life Support (ILS) is a level of training undertaken in order to provide emergency medical care outside medical facilities. ILS is classed as mid-level emergency medical care provided by trained first responders who receive more training than basic life support providers, but less than advanced life support providers. Intermediate Life Support is also known as Limited Advanced Life Support (LALS), Immediate Life Support, or Intermediate Advanced Life Support (IALS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BASICS Scotland</span>

The British Association for Immediate Care Scotland is an organisation involved with prehospital care. It has the aims of providing encouragement and aid with the formation of immediate care schemes and to provide training to support those working in prehospital care. It shares its origins with the British Association for Immediate Care (BASICS), which has UK wide coverage. In 1993, the British Association for Immediate Care began running prehospital care courses in Scotland, which were met with a warm welcome and it became clear there was a large audience for such education, especially in remote and rural areas of Scotland. This need for training and organisational leadership became clearer after the 1994 Scotland RAF Chinook crash on the Mull of Kintyre. This led to the training provided by BASICS to be modified for a more rural setting, and to the development of BASICS Scotland as a separate organisation in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Baskett</span> Northern Irish physician

Peter John Firth Baskett (1934–2008) was a Northern Irish physician, specializing in anaesthesia. He was responsible for the introduction of paramedics into the United Kingdom, created specialist ambulances for delivering on-scene pain relief to patients, and was the first chairman of the European Resuscitation Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Highland PICT Team</span> Scottish emergency prehospital care team

The Prehospital Immediate Care and Trauma (PICT) Team is a prehospital care team which operates from Raigmore Hospital emergency department in Inverness, Scotland. It receives funding from NHS Highland, BASICS Scotland and the Scottish Trauma Network.

References

  1. 1 2 "Sandpiper Trust – Saving lives in rural Scotland".
  2. "Sandpiper Australia – Supporting Pre-Hospital Care in Rural Australia".
  3. 1 2 Leeuwenburg, Tim (28 Dec 2019). "Sandpiper Australia - 2020 ahead". KI Doc. Retrieved 21 Mar 2021.
  4. 1 2 Heartland FM Speaks to Lorna Duff from Sandpiper , retrieved 2022-07-18
  5. Drysdale, Neil (9 Mar 2020). "The Big Interview: 'Slam was grand but it's still people who count'". Press and Journal. Retrieved 4 Apr 2021.
  6. "OSCR | Charity Details". www.oscr.org.uk.
  7. The Sandpiper Cookbook: Not Just Another Charity Cookbook. 2009. ISBN   978-0956374417.
  8. "Amazon.co.uk Best Sellers: The most popular items in Poetry Anthologies". www.amazon.co.uk.
  9. Andonova, Denny (6 Jan 2021). "North-east charity raises nearly £40,000 for life-saving service". Press and Journal. Retrieved 4 Apr 2021.
  10. Macaulay, Susy (11 Feb 2021). "Golspie family brave icy Sutherland waters in Sandpiper Trust fundraiser". Press and Journal. Retrieved 4 Apr 2021.
  11. Shepherd, Jordan (3 Oct 2018). "Annie Lennox donates handwritten lyrics of smash-hit to Aberdeenshire charity". Press and Journal. Retrieved 4 Apr 2021.
  12. Ramage, Tom (3 Dec 2020). "Online auction aims to save rural lives in Highlands". Strathspey Herald. Retrieved 4 Apr 2021.
  13. Newsroom, The (20 Jun 2010). "Fishing & Shooting: The Sandpiper Challenge". The Scotsman. Retrieved 4 Apr 2021.
  14. "[PDF] The Newsletter of The Sandpiper Trust - A Scottish Charity - Free Download PDF". SILO of research documents. 6 Sep 2016. Retrieved 4 Apr 2021.
  15. "Sandpiper Bag Holders – BASICS Scotland". BASICS Scotland. Retrieved 21 Mar 2021.
  16. "The Sandpiper Bag – Sandpiper Australia". Sandpiper Australia – Supporting Pre-Hospital Care in Rural Australia. 8 Dec 2020. Retrieved 21 Mar 2021.
  17. "Sandpiper Bags". The Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care. 2 Feb 2015. Retrieved 21 Mar 2021.
  18. Mallinson, Tom; Worrall, Mark; Price, Richard; Duff, Lorna (2022). "Prehospital endotracheal intubation in cardiac arrest by BASICS Scotland clinicians". doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.24988.56969.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  19. "Media – Sandpiper Australia" . Retrieved 2022-08-12.
  20. "Sandpiper Bag Holders – BASICS Scotland" . Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  21. "FPHC Chairman Meets the Queen as Sandpiper Trust Reach Milestone - The Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care". fphc.rcsed.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-08-12.
  22. @nickpheath (January 16, 2022). "Familiarising myself with my @Sandpiper_Trust kit…" (Tweet). Archived from the original on Jul 18, 2022. Retrieved 2023-06-10 via Twitter.
  23. "Sandpiper WILDCAT project". Resuscitation Research Group. 27 Feb 2014. Retrieved 21 Mar 2021.
  24. "Plan to boost cardiac survival rates in Grampian". BBC News. 13 Apr 2015. Retrieved 4 Apr 2021.
  25. "'Wildcat' network to boost cardiac arrest survival rates". BBC News. 26 Feb 2015. Retrieved 4 Apr 2021.
  26. "Wildcats are go!". Save a life Scotland. 29 Oct 2020. Retrieved 21 Mar 2021.
  27. Fickling, Keri; Clegg, Gareth; Jensen, Keith; Donaldson, Lorna; Laird, Colville; Bywater, Dave (2019). "PP22 Sandpiper wildcat project – saving lives after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in rural grampian". Emergency Medicine Journal. BMJ. 36 (1): e9.1–e9. doi:10.1136/emermed-2019-999.22. ISSN   1472-0205. S2CID   81246069.
  28. "Sandpiper Wildcat team win Pride of Aberdeen Award! – BASICS Scotland". BASICS Scotland. Retrieved 21 Mar 2021.
  29. "Life-saving Sandpiper Wildcat team scoops top accolade at Pride of Aberdeen awards". Evening Express. 20 Nov 2017. Retrieved 21 Mar 2021.
  30. "Sandpiper Trust – Saving lives in rural Scotland". Sandpiper Trust – Saving lives in rural Scotland. Retrieved 21 Mar 2021.