Air Ambulance Service
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Air Ambulance Service
Why, when we are all tax payer's and we get protection and assistance from the Fire,Police and Ambulance service, why then do we have to rely on Hems helicopters being paid for by Corporate donations and charities supported by the kindness of the public.
We are led to believe that the cost of keeping one helicopter on standby could be as much as £800K per year, but from the little, and I stress what little I know about this, Hem's Heli's are provided by commercial company's, Bond or Scotia or who ever. Given that commercial companys are in business to make a profit, would it not be resonable to expect, that if the government of the day funded the purchase and maintenance of these helicopters,or incorporated the RAF SAR more than they are now, then the money raised by the fund raisers and the public, would be enhansed by the profit element being removed from the lease agreements which must exist to supply Pilots, servicing and hardware. Forgive me for banging on about this but I do think if we as a Country, the Uk that is, can supply a policeman with a car and a helicopter, then we should be able to supply the same for the Ambulance service, done in that way, it would remove the need for many people to have to worry about corporate backing running out in so many months or years, What do others think ?
[This message has been edited by Vfrpilotpb (edited 21 May 2001).]
We are led to believe that the cost of keeping one helicopter on standby could be as much as £800K per year, but from the little, and I stress what little I know about this, Hem's Heli's are provided by commercial company's, Bond or Scotia or who ever. Given that commercial companys are in business to make a profit, would it not be resonable to expect, that if the government of the day funded the purchase and maintenance of these helicopters,or incorporated the RAF SAR more than they are now, then the money raised by the fund raisers and the public, would be enhansed by the profit element being removed from the lease agreements which must exist to supply Pilots, servicing and hardware. Forgive me for banging on about this but I do think if we as a Country, the Uk that is, can supply a policeman with a car and a helicopter, then we should be able to supply the same for the Ambulance service, done in that way, it would remove the need for many people to have to worry about corporate backing running out in so many months or years, What do others think ?
[This message has been edited by Vfrpilotpb (edited 21 May 2001).]
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Even better have the user pay , since most call outs are to golf courses an extra tax on golf balls , clubs and green fees could help to fund the service. Joking apart it may not be true that the armed forces are neccesarily more efficient at providing the service than a private company would be. How many 109's EC135's and MD902's are currently in service with the British Forces ?. By the time you have trained pilots and ground crews and set up the spares and logistics required I am sure any savings might be minimal . Do the forces have an excess of Airmen and ground crew that could be assigned to these tasks I don't think so . I entirely agree that such a valuable service should be publicly funded but not necessarily government run.
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Slightly off-topic, but hey, that's me !!
I heard of a Chinook once involved in a civilian fire-fighting incident. They were returning to Hullavington, saw a tanker on fire on the motorway, so landed at Hullavington, got some firefighting gear and people, and went to put the fire out.
Turned out it was a beer tanker from Wadworth's in Devizes - they got a brewery tour in way of thanks. Wonder how much time was spent touring the brewery, and how much sampling ?
I heard of a Chinook once involved in a civilian fire-fighting incident. They were returning to Hullavington, saw a tanker on fire on the motorway, so landed at Hullavington, got some firefighting gear and people, and went to put the fire out.
Turned out it was a beer tanker from Wadworth's in Devizes - they got a brewery tour in way of thanks. Wonder how much time was spent touring the brewery, and how much sampling ?
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VFR: I concur, you've raised a good point. A slight amendment, if I may, HEMS / Air Ambulance services are (in England and Wales) on the whole, charitably run, on average to the tune of £70,000 ish / month!! Thats a lot of collection boxes. 
The irony of it is that some of the pilots and nearly all of the maintenance is supplied by commercial profit making companies. So the charity organisers are caught between a rock and a hard place [on the one hand they have to beg from the public and on the other they then fill the coffers of the commercial support company!! Keeping these air ambulance units in the black is a gigantic task carried out by normal people. These people deserve medals for the energy and effort they put in.
SAR is all commercial. Scotland is commercial (Bond).
I believe the government don't want to take on the burden of air ambulances because it's just another bureaucratic nightmare and another excuse to run a public service inefficiently. If it's working don't fix it...
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Thermal runaway.
The irony of it is that some of the pilots and nearly all of the maintenance is supplied by commercial profit making companies. So the charity organisers are caught between a rock and a hard place [on the one hand they have to beg from the public and on the other they then fill the coffers of the commercial support company!! Keeping these air ambulance units in the black is a gigantic task carried out by normal people. These people deserve medals for the energy and effort they put in.
SAR is all commercial. Scotland is commercial (Bond).
I believe the government don't want to take on the burden of air ambulances because it's just another bureaucratic nightmare and another excuse to run a public service inefficiently. If it's working don't fix it...
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Thermal runaway.
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TC, What can I say,but thank you, I am really not a do gooder, but the care that both you and I, and anyone else who pays any sort of tax in this still great country of ours, should be able to have a fair chance of help from any sort of technology when the Golden Hour is needed, and you are right, the funds for this to be acheived could be found from within central government, but they do lack the will, it will possibly be thought about if someone very important has a RTA, or something similar, then Jack Straw or some similar career politico, will have a brainwave!
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I've got to agree that the government should pay at least a major chunk of the call.
With insurance companies announcing large profits, could some be stumped up from them at say an RTA?
Commercial operators will always be driven by profit! If the government were to cap those profits at a certain level that might help too!? But then the government is happier spending our money on nice carpets for their flats!
(Let's face it I love parting with £160 a year for road tax & then coughing up £80 for a tyre that blown out on a pot hole on a bl**dy motorway!)
The 'golden hour' is all important, the government should do more to help achieve it!!
With insurance companies announcing large profits, could some be stumped up from them at say an RTA?
Commercial operators will always be driven by profit! If the government were to cap those profits at a certain level that might help too!? But then the government is happier spending our money on nice carpets for their flats!
(Let's face it I love parting with £160 a year for road tax & then coughing up £80 for a tyre that blown out on a pot hole on a bl**dy motorway!)
The 'golden hour' is all important, the government should do more to help achieve it!!
