Emergency services: air ambulance charities in crisis
Aggressive fundraising tactics and lack of regulation mean rescue helicopter charities are heading for collision
The truth is that air ambulances have been set up across the country with no overall planning, no agreed funding and no clear, bespoke system of regulation. As a result, there is an imbalanced patchwork of services, heavily skewed towards southern England, all relying to some degree on charitable donations but some receiving much more state support than others. Unsurprisingly, there are tensions and rifts.
Talks are due to take place Thursday to try to bridge a growing divide between the Association of Air Ambulances, which represents 14 of the 19 services in Britain, and the Air Ambulance Service (AAS), which operates two services, one for Warwickshire and Northamptonshire and another for Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland. The AAS says it takes not a penny of state or lottery funding, and is critical of other services for doing so at a time when the NHS is under acute strain.
Emergency services: air ambulance charities in crisis | Society | The Guardian