HAL,
I believe that HEMS are already walking..... all the Scottish AA are H24 IFR, yes even the helicopters. The problem with doing that though is availability of H24 airports with IAPs. And I am sure that someone will come up with the argument that a winch increases capability more than an IFR capability - who's to say they are wrong? Besides flying in marginal VFR conditions as HEMS often do is far more challenging than IFR.
As for your comment which if I'm not mistaken amounts to giving the HEMS guys enough rope with which to hang themselves. What sort of person are you? That's like me saying why don't the RAF remove their SAR capability from the country and send all the crews to front line taskings to get shot at. Afterall only 5% of UK SAR taskings are for military operations. And no I don't think like that.
What really annoys me is this RAF attitude that they are the only ones worthy of any interesting flying. You may well be the best (although some Pongo mates would contest that and I'm not talking pilots) but you are not the only ones capable of quality training and training is the bed rock of capability.
Wake up guys, civillian operators have been winching for decades. We are not talking having the ability to winch to heaving decks or big cliffs. How much of the SARTUs winch ops course is devoted to winching to decks 50%? more? Basic winching is not a black art, all it takes is training, practice and some money. If the charities and ultimately those that donate deem that to be worthy of their cash then so be it. It is not for any of us to question the ethics.