The potential cons outweigh the pros but only just. A service more like Germany or Austria would be best. France also is not charity funded and according to one senior clinician I’ve spoken to light years ahead of the U.K. in pre hospital care. Whilst NPAS as a national model has proven to be farcical and an abject failure closer cooperation at least and reduction of different types etc along with some actual better planning would make an immediate difference.
But where would the empire builders go then. The CEO’s on 6 figure salaries and bonuses. The charities who have raised so much of people’s hard earned they can’t spend it quickly enough to avoid losing their charitable status. The ever larger airframes no longer able to land in suburban confines that charities better served before. The wastage on, in one instance, an airframe offered gratis from the Middle East only to be paid for and still require massive extra spend to make it airworthy when others were available as a pair for 10-15% of the cost in the U.K. ex another charity. The charity travelling 6 on board so every clinician can get stats and boxes ticked to a scene then refusing to carry a casualty to hospital as they don’t have the fuel capacity. The charity with no affiliation to any actual ambulance service upgrading to a larger multi crew operation. The ambulance service who will task their own asset still on another hospital pad half an hour away as opposed to the aircraft over the ‘border’ 6 minutes away but not wearing the correct colour scheme or branding. I could go on but maybe BBC panorama might get interested if I did. Oh how they love to spend all the people’s money yet air ambulance pilots are the poorest paid in the U.K., and amongst EMS pilots in Europe the poorest also despite now requiring ever higher qualifications.
Some centralisation might actually drain the swamp.
Have lovely weekend everyone.