Air ambulance services in the United Kingdom

Air ambulance services in the United Kingdom provide emergency medical functions, patient transport between specialist centres, or medical repatriation. Services are provided by a mixture of organisations, operating either helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft. All emergency air ambulance helicopters in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are operated by charities, while Scotland has one charity service in addition to its two NHS-funded helicopters. Fixed-wing air ambulances, used for patient transport, may be government or privately operated. Air ambulance helicopters are complemented by Coastguard SAR helicopters.

History edit

The first air ambulance services in the UK commenced in Scotland in November 1933, with a flight from Wideford Airport, Kirkwall, Orkney. The first night time ambulance flight was undertaken in February 1939, from Wideford to the island of Sanday, using car headlights to help take off and landing. The aircraft used was a General Aircraft Monospar, registration G-ACEW, operated by Highland Airways.

The first air ambulance charity to operate a helicopter was Cornwall Air Ambulance in 1987.[1] There are now 21 air ambulance charities in the UK.[2]

Emergency air ambulances edit

Emergency air ambulances are generally helicopter based, and used to respond to medical emergencies in support of local ambulance services. In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, all of these services are charitably funded, and either directly owned by the charity, or operated under contract with a private provider.[3] The ambulance staff and doctors crewing these flights are generally seconded from the local NHS ambulance service and NHS hospitals. In Scotland, there is the only publicly-funded air ambulance service, with the Scottish Ambulance Service operating two Airbus Helicopters H145 helicopters and two fixed wing aircraft in this role, alongside two charity-funded Eurocopter EC135 helicopters, operated by Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance.

OrganisationAircraftRegistrationPhotograph
Cornwall Air AmbulanceAW169[4]G-CRWL[5]
AW109SPG-KRNO
The Air Ambulance ServiceAW109SPG-TAAS
AW109SPG-WNAS
2 x AW169G-PICU
G-TCAA
G-NICU
G-CPTZ
Devon Air AmbulanceH145G-DAAS[6]
EC135G-DAAN
Dorset and Somerset Air AmbulanceAW169G-DSAA
East Anglian Air Ambulance2 x H145G-RESU
G-HEMC
Essex & Herts Air AmbulanceMD 902G-EHEM
AW169G-HHEM
Great North Air Ambulance[7]AS365 N2G-NHAC
AS365 N3+G-NHAD
AS365 N3G-NHAE
Great Western Air AmbulanceEC135G-GWAC
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air AmbulanceH135G-HIOW
Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex3 x AW169G-KSST
G-KSSC
G-LNAC
MD 902G-KSSA
Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air AmbulanceAW169G-LNCC
London's Air Ambulance2 x MD 902

(One spare)

G-EHMS
G-LNDN
Magpas Air AmbulanceAW169G-MGPS
Midlands Air AmbulanceH145G-RMAA
2 x EC135G-OMAA
G-HWAA
North West Air Ambulance3 x EC135G-NWAA
G-NWAE
G-NWEM
Northern Ireland Air Ambulance2 x AW109SPG-HEMZ


G-RSCU
Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance2 x EC135G-SCAA
G-EMAA
Scottish Air Ambulance2 x H145G-ISAS
G-GSAS
2 x King Air 200CG-SASC
G-SASD
Thames Valley Air AmbulanceEC135G-TVLY[8]
Wales Air Ambulance
and Children's Wales Air Ambulance
4 x H145G-WENU
G-WOBR
G-WROL
G-LOYW[9]
Wiltshire Air AmbulanceBell 429G-WLTS
Yorkshire Air Ambulance2 x H145 D3G-YORX[10]
G-YAAA[11]

Patient transport operations edit

Privately operated fixed wing air ambulance from the UK

There are also a number of public and private patient transport operations in the UK, generally using fixed wing aircraft, and which are part of a system of moving patients between points of care, or as part of a repatriation to the UK. SkyAngels Air Ambulance charity, flying out of Norwich International Airport [NWI], is a dedicated patient air transfer service with one helicopter and a number of fixed-winged aircraft under contracts to provide a service to the NHS.[12] There is a helicopter based patient transfer service, focused on paediatric cases, called the Children's Air Ambulance, which first flew in 2012.[13]

The Scottish Ambulance Service operates two fixed wing aircraft in this role, with patients flown to the mainland UK for treatment.[14] In 2015, the neonatal, paediatric and adult emergency care and retrieval operations were brought together with the Scottish Ambulance Service and utilise the aircraft and road ambulances for this purpose. They are co-located at the Scottish Ambulance Air Base at Glasgow International Airport.

The Isle of Man Department of Health and Social Care operates a fixed-wing air ambulance for patient transport between the island and mainland hospitals.[15]

The Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey have a Beechcraft King Air B200 air ambulance, operated by Gama Aviation since July 2020, that transports patients to England for treatment that they cannot receive on the islands.[16] In Jersey this is coordinated by the Jersey Emergency Transport Service (JETS).[17] In addition, Aurigny operate a medical evacuation service from Alderney to Guernsey.[16]

Notable accidents involving air ambulances edit

See also edit

References edit

External links edit