MORE lives could be saved if a quarter of a million pounds is raised to place emergency vehicles in each area of the county.

BEEP Doctors, a Cumbrian based charity, set themselves a huge target of raising £145,000 in 2021 which they are pleased to announce they smashed.

The money raised bought vital equipment for the team, including defibrillators, ultrasound devices, PPE uniforms and a new Volvo XC60.

In 2022 they have taken on an even bigger challenge of raising £250,000 to buy four new emergency vehicles, which can be used in all four corners of the county.

It was the first time in their 28-year history that BEEP Doctors has taken on such a big fundraising challenge.

However the charity has grown considerably over the past few years and they needed to raise more money than usual for their future sustainability.

When it first began, The BEEP Fund, as it was formally known, only had three doctors working in a 15-mile radius of Penrith. 

However, now the charity has fourteen actively responding volunteer doctors all over Cumbria.  More doctors mean more equipment, more training, more medicines and specialist kit – helping them to save more lives across the county.    

The charity was called to 394 incidents in Cumbria across the course of 2021, 49 per cent of which were road traffic accidents, as well as attacks by cattle, fractures, falls, assaults, stabbings, head injuries, drowning, cardiac arrest or mental health issues. 

The aim in 2022 is to raise enough money to buy four new emergency vehicles, with each vehicle costing around £35-£40,000. The doctors currently use their own vehicles, which is not ideal when responding to emergency calls outs, particularly in rural Cumbria.

Having dedicated emergency vehicles stationed in each area of the county would mean greater safety for the volunteer doctors when out on the road.

The vehicles would be fully liveried up, have blues and twos and all the necessary equipment and medicine on board – ensuring the best possible care for patients. 

The charity is also looking to buy several ventilators and other high tech medical equipment, ensuring they bring the A&E to the patient.

A spokeswoman for BEEP Doctors said: “Ideally, we’d like to have an emergency vehicle in each area of Cumbria – north, south, east and west.

“Our current vehicle goes between Penrith/Carlisle and Kendal at the moment but all doctors currently use their own vehicles for call outs which is not always ideal when working remotely in Cumbria.

“It would make a huge difference to the doctors responding as the vehicles would be more recognisable as emergency doctors.  It would mean kit would be readily to hand in the vehicles and help the doctor attending to save even more lives if they can respond quicker and more safely.”