ShotOne - everyone would agree that the important thing is to make sure that the recovery of the injured parties is completed as quickly as possible. What no-one can predict is what supplies will be left after any incident (the press reports for Tony Bullimore refer to a bar of chocolate and 5 days before recovery), so the idea of being able to deploy some sort of rescue apparatus which contains supplies of food, water, clothing and other bits and bobs is important, so that (hopefully) the rescue party (be they airborne or on the surface) can actually rescue a survivor.
Whilst in other areas of the world, this SAR task is a primary role for non-MPA/MMA aircraft, other aircraft types in their inventory continue to practise searching for targets and the deployment of any rescue stores.
As has been pointed out many times, SAR is but one small element of the many tasks that MPA/MMA aircraft undertake. I dearly hope that the UK gets back into the MMA world (having spent over 25 years within the kipper fleet) but fear that the financial outlay v any benefits that accountants can relate to, will prevent it.
I watch with interest whilst continuing to practise SAR procedures with our commonwealth cousins.