Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance

Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance is an organisation which assists the Scottish Ambulance Service with emergency medical services through the provision of a helicopter-based air ambulance based in Tayside. The helicopter is run by a company that is a registered charity.

The air ambulance works alongside and complements the state-funded aircraft that also operate across Scotland.[1] A Eurocopter EC135, callsign Helimed 76, is crewed by Scottish Ambulance Service paramedics. The aircraft is based at Perth Airport and tasking is from the SAS ambulance control centre at Cardonald. As of March 2017, they have flown 1,300 missions.[2] A second aircraft, Helimed 79, is planned to operate from Aberdeen International Airport from early 2020.

The previous MBB Bo 105 helicopter, now replaced by a Eurocopter EC135.

History

The organisation registered as a charity in Scotland in October 2010.[3] In late 2012, SCAA was hoping to raise money from public and private donations in excess of £1.5 million every year.[4] It commenced operations in May 2013, with a MBB Bo 105 airframe and flew 40 missions in the first month.[5] After two months, the service changed the hours it operated, allowing deployment later in the day. This change was to make the ambulance available at times of high demand.[6] By January 2014, the air ambulance had flown its 200th mission.[7] In May 2014, after a year of operations they had completed nearly 300 missions.[8] By February 2015, the ambulance had been despatched on almost 500 missions.[9]

In March 2015, it was announced that the charity would receive £3.3m, allocated from Libor fines, which would allow the charity to replace their helicopter with a larger, more capable aircraft.[10]

In October 2015, they upgraded to a Eurocopter EC135, which is faster and more powerful than the Bo 105.[11] The new EC135, registered G-SCAA, previously operated for the NHS funded air ambulance in Scotland as G-SASB.

The charity reached 1,000 call-outs in March 2016.[12]

Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance runs with the radio call sign Helimed 76.[7]

In April 2018, the charity announced that a drive was underway to raise £6m towards the running of a second helicopter for a three-year period.[13] In November, they announced that this second aircraft would be based in Aberdeen and that they hoped that the service would be running by late 2019.[14] A four-year contract was signed with Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore in September 2019 for a Eurocopter EC135, callsign Helimed 79, to operate from Aberdeen International Airport from early 2020.[15]

Awards

Crew members were chosen as "Rural Heroes 2017" by the judges at the Scottish Rural Awards.[2]

See also

References
  1. "Charity Air Ambulance for Scotland" (Press release). Scottish Ambulance Service. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  2. Mackay, Mark (18 March 2017). "Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance crew hailed as nation's rural heroes". The Courier. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  3. "Charity Details: Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance, SC041845". www.oscr.org.uk. Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  4. "Perth base for Scotland's charity air ambulance". BBC News. BBC. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  5. "'Busy' first month for Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance". BBC News. 24 June 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  6. "Scotland's charity air ambulance alters operating hours to meet demands". BBC News. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  7. "Charity air ambulance hailed as helicopter flies 200th mission". STV News. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  8. "Round the world in 80 days flight takes off from Perth". BBC News. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  9. Burdge, Richard (13 February 2015). "Blue Light display to mark Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance milestone". The Courier. D. C. Thomson & Co. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  10. "Libor fines pay for charity air ambulance". BBC News. BBC. 18 March 2015.
  11. "New helicopter unveiled for Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance". STV News. 30 October 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  12. MacPhee, Catriona (29 March 2016). "Charity air ambulance saves hillwalker in 1000th call-out". STV News. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  13. "Second helicopter plan for Scotland's Air Ambulance Charity". BBC News. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  14. "Aberdeen base for second Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance helicopter". BBC News. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  15. "Air ambulance helicopter contract signed for Aberdeen service". BBC News. 9 September 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.