County Air Ambulance
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The County Air Ambulance Trust is a United Kingdom regional helicopter emergency medical service.[1] It operates three Eurocopter EC 135 helicopters during daylight hours as air ambulances in the Midlands region of England.[1]
Contents |
[edit] History
The County Air Ambulance Trust was registered as a private limited company in 1995.[2] In 1996 it became a registered charity, its main business is to support the provision of emergency medical services in the Midland Counties.[3] The charity which runs the service is known as the Midlands Air Ambulance Fund (although uses the County Air Ambulance name). It is this organisation which funds the running of the helicopters. The County Air Ambulance Trust make an annual donation towards the running costs of the charity. County Air Ambulance originally operated a single helicopter based at Wolverhampton Airport (Halfpenny Green) and, at it's peak, had grown to operating three Eurocopter EC 135 aircraft covering 8,000 square miles (21,000 km²) of Central England.[1] West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) Management changes in 2006 saw the coverage region reduce, deployment criteria widen and thus operating costs increase.
[edit] Organisation
The charity is managed by senior paramedics from within the West Midlands Ambulance Service and the Chief Executive of that service also serves as the charity's chairman. As a registered charity the trust is funded entirely by charitable donations given by corporate organisations and members of the public.[1] In 2006 the trust had an income of £1,180,100 [1]. Although the Trust raises and provides the funds for operating the service, the day-to-day provision of service is under the management of the West Midlands Ambulance Service.[1]
The air ambulance service is provided using three Eurocopter EC 135 helicopters based at RAF Cosford, East Midlands Airport and at Strensham services.[1] The service covers the following counties: West Midlands, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and the English/Welsh border area.[1]
[edit] Helicopters
The County Air Ambulance was the first charity in the United Kingdom to use the Eurocopter EC 135 helicopter to provide a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS). Each helicopter is crewed by one pilot and two paramedics, or occasionally one paramedic and one doctor. The paramedics are selected from the ambulance service nearest their base. These services include the West Midlands Ambulance Service and the Great Western Ambulance Service. Until 31 March 2008, they also operated for the East Midlands Ambulance Service but after some shamefully public political wranglings between WMAS and EMAS, the aircraft was withdrawn by WMAS and redeployed into Staffordshire, despite the presence of nearby Cosford[4]. The pilots, helicopters and support engineers are provided by Bond Air Services.
