Crab@.... .. .I am in favour of whatever benefits the patient and no single resource is going to be appropriate every time. Between air ambs, police helis and SAR we must have it pretty well covered.. .. .I don't belive amb controls leave SAR at the bottom of the list simply to raise the profile or justify the existence of air ambs. Most controllers have little or no training in responding aircraft and would not know which was the best reponse. We often find they don't think heli at all. Definitely not ideal and we are constantly talking to the controls in an attempt to rectify the situation.. .. .We do our best to get to jobs in all weathers (most of our pilots are ex-SAR / Military) and we will return to a scene for trapped patients etc.. But yes, when I'm faced with 4 multi-system trauma patients and only two stretchers I would have no problems with seeing a big yellow thing arrive!!. .. .We have a lot of respect for the work that SAR does and if you are not getting due credit then that is wrong. For what it's worth, if the press are running a heli story that is not us then we put them straight. We have been gazumped ourselves a few times and it is annoying!. .. .As for funding. The goverment money is welcome but is a long way from complete NHS funding. The NHS has a lot of areas to fund which are just as deserving as air ambs. We understand that and are very gratefull to Joe Public who continues to keep us in the air after 12 or so years. Not forgetting keeping MRT's on the hill and Lifeboats at sea. Surely you don't begrudge us a rise from the £0.00 we normally receive?. .. .Edited so TeeS doesn't give me a hard time over my spelling (...I know i before e and all that!). . . . <small>[ 29 March 2002, 22:58: Message edited by: Push To Shock ]</small>