Gv's of the BASICS course,training weekend held at the Carnoustie Golf Hotel, Carnoustie, Scotland. BASICS was formed in 1977. The founder of BASICS was a Dr Ken Easton from Catterick in Yorkshire. Dr Easton had been an army doctor who, after leaving the army had gone into General Practice in Catterick. During the 1960s and 1970s he was frequently called out to road accidents on the A1. At this time the Fire Brigade had no equipment for releasing patients from trapped vehicles and the only instrument they had available to them in most cases was a hacksaw. Patients were trapped in cars for up to twelve hours at a time and frequently died before they could be extricated. Dr Easton recognised that there was a need to improve the situation and worked with colleagues in the Emergency Services and the medical profession to develop expertise and equipment suitable for use in this field. During the late 70s and early 80s our hospital colleagues started to develop structured teaching courses for both cardiac and trauma resuscitation. Such courses were the first ATLS and Advanced Cardiac Life Support Courses, and during the latter part of the 1980s these educational activities became standard practice for many of our hospital colleagues, and the results in terms of improved patient care became obvious. It was then recognised by BASICS that modified versions of such courses would be required for pre-hospital care if these educational benefits were to be transferred to the pre-hospital field. BASICS thus started running courses in Cambridge and subsequently throughout the rest of the United Kingdom. The courses started running in Scotland in 1993, and very quickly it became obvious that there was a high demand for these courses in rural Scotland. This demand initially was provided by courses run centrally in Scotland, but in 1995 Argyll & Clyde Health Board recognised the need to have their General Practitioners trained in Immediate Care because of the long travelling times to hospital. This need had been particularly identified following the crash of a military helicopter near Campbeltown in 1993. The courses were thus changed in order that they could be delivered anywhere in Scotland, and particularly to cater for the needs of rural practitioners. Argyll & Clyde Health Board soon recognised that there were not only General Practitioners that needed such training but many of their nursing staff and other health professionals. Development of these courses has continued throughout the years, and we now provide approximately 350 course places per year, through central funding from NES. The provision of pre-hospital care in Scotland was very significantly improved in 2001 by the formation of The Sandpiper Trust. This organisation was specifically formed to provide rural practitioners with equipment that would allow them to provide immediate care. An early benefit of this organisation was the design of the Sandpiper Bag specifically for the use of rural practitioners in Scotland. The Sandpiper Bag is now the recognised standard for pre-hospital care equipment in Scotland and is used extensively on the courses.