Just to avoid any misunderstanding. The Wiltshire joint Police/Air Ambulance has only been repreived for 2 years. After that the funding is likely to be switched to a dedicated air ambulance carrying enhanced equipment. Quite where that will leave the Police machine is still not decided. Wiltshire is a small force ( numerically as apposed to geographically) and will probably not survive on its own without a partner. They may well join into a consortium of other SW forces.
That this is being forced upon them, is in itself a great shame, for the Wiltshire Unit is one of our earliest and has provided a great service to the people of Wiltshire. I really do hope that somehow it will survive.
But it underlines the problem and the weakness of joint units. They simply cannot carry enough role equipment to do both jobs as efficiently as the dedicated machines can. The answer must be to retain the specialised machines but make significant savings on the supporting (none crew & none flying ) infrastructure. i.e joint operating criteria (AOC or State), maintenance contracts, bulk purchase of fuel, buildings and support staff etc etc.
In this litigenous society it may well become too dangerous to consider any form of medical conveyance in a machine that is not fitted to the highest standard. However in this field I am well outside my comfort zone & will expect to be corrected.
Tigerfish