DocBikes, Doctors And Paramedics on Motorbikes The First Responders.
DocBikes, is a charity providing Doctors and specialist Paramedics on motorcycles. Have you heard of them?
The charity aims to have at least one Doctor or Paramedic in every County in the UK. My aim is to raise the money to provide one for Hampshire where I am based.
I hope after reading this article you will donate and attend the future events I am planning to raise money towards £50000 by the end of 2021.
The man behind the origins of the Charity.
Dr Ian Mew
Ian is a Consultant in Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine and former Director of Major trauma at Dorset County Hospital. Half of his working hours are also spent as a critical care doctor aboard the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance.
Ian soon realised after attending multiple motorcycle-related fatalities, that to really make a difference & save motorcyclists lives, he needed to get to them before they crashed – and so his passion for motorcycle injury prevention was born.
Ian sits on the National Motorcycle Working Group, has direct liaison with national agencies such as the police and fire chief councils, Highways England and of course the national BikerDown team.
He lectures on motorcycle injury prevention around the UK and is a keen supporter of research and evidence base to inform the methods and direction of the charity.
Dr Ian Mew.
Part of what the teams do.
Roadside Critical Care
All of our riders are serving doctors, paramedics or practitioners who look after critically ill and injured patients in the pre-hospital environment as part of their day job. They give their time voluntarily to help keep motorcyclists on two wheels because they know the devastation that can be caused when a motorcyclist is involved in a crash. Irrespective of the seniority of the clinician & the critical care equipment carried, the forces involved when a motorcyclist crashes are often simply to great to be survivable. That’s why the main aim of the DocBike charity and riders is to help prevent motorcycle collisions from occurring in the first place through engagement and education.
That said, the riders have a duty of care to everyone, be they pedestrians, car drivers or people who are medically unwell and if a member of the public needs urgent medical intervention to keep them alive, the DocBike riders will provide that care just as if they had arrived by ambulance or helicopter; in a governed process in alignment with their local emergency services.
Response Riding
Clinicians riding the DocBike do so to very high standards, having completed an emergency service provided motorcycle response course and assessed on a regular basis. The riding of the DocBike is governed by the emergency service responsible in their area (police or ambulance) just like any other emergency vehicle. All DocBike motorcycles are part of an emergency service fleet, are maintained and insured by that emergency service and the rider is answerable to that service should their riding fall short of the very high standards that are required.
The DocBike charity recognises that in order to be a credible force when engaging with fellow motorcyclists on the road, at biker cafés or big motorcycle events; the clinician and motorcycle needs to be a credible emergency response asset. By ensuring the vehicle and the riding is owned and governed by either the police or ambulance service in that area, everything has been done to ensure that this has been done to the highest standards and is beyond reproach.
Medical Equipment on the DocBike
Space is at a premium on the motorcycle, so equipment has to be chosen wisely. Monitoring also has to be compact, vibration resistant and waterproof. This equipment, small enough to fit on a motorcycle yet robust enough to withstand significant vibrations is expensive. It costs around £40,000 to put a DocBike into an area.
The bike is equipped to allow the clinician to deliver safe and effective care when first on scene of an incident; but very quickly, the clinician will form part of the wider emergency response to the incident, just as if he or she had arrived by ambulance or helicopter as part of their day to day job. Again, all equipment and its use is governed through the same local processes as when responding to an incident as part of their day-to-day job.
Research and Evidence Base
The DocBike charity isn’t about riding around on a flashy bike and achieving little. Research and evidence base form the cornerstones of the charity. We use research to:
Identify those motorcyclists who are most likely to be involved in a serious collision in the future
Identify what things are most likely to get a biker killed or seriously injured
Work out what strategies actually work to avoid being in a bike crash
Look at whether the way that we engage with motorcyclists actually reduces their risk of being in a crash in the future.