Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance

Scottish charity air ambulance

(2021)

£6.0 million^[1]Websitewww.scaa.org.uk

Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) is a registered charity which assists the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) with emergency medical services through the provision of helicopter-based air ambulances.

SCAA air ambulances complement the state-funded aircraft that also operate across Scotland.^[2] A Eurocopter EC135 is based at Perth Airport. A second EC135 operates from Aberdeen Airport. Both are crewed by one or two SAS paramedics who are tasked from the SAS ambulance control centre at Cardonald. As of May 2013^[update], they have flown 5,200 missions.^[3]

Aberdeen (AS & Ch)

Perth (Ch)

Glasgow (AS)

Inverness (AS)

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Air ambulance bases in Scotland
Key: Ch=Charity AS=Ambulance Service

History

The organisation registered as a charity in Scotland in October 2010.^[1] In late 2012, SCAA was hoping to raise money from public and private donations in excess of £1.5 million every year.^[4] It commenced operations in May 2013, with a MBB Bo 105 airframe, registration G-NDAA, and flew 40 missions in the first month.^[5] After two months, the service changed the hours it operated, allowing deployment later in the day. This change was to make the ambulance available at times of high demand.^[6] By January 2014, the air ambulance had flown its 200th mission.^[7] In May 2014, after a year of operations they had completed nearly 300 missions.^[8] By February 2015, the ambulance had been despatched on almost 500 missions.^[9]

In March 2015, it was announced that the charity would receive £3.3M, allocated from Libor fines, which would allow the charity to replace their helicopter with a larger, more capable aircraft.^[10]

In October 2015, they upgraded to a Eurocopter EC135, which is faster and more powerful than the Bo 105.^[11] The new EC135, registered G-SCAA, previously operated for the NHS funded air ambulance in Scotland as G-SASB.

The charity reached 1,000 call-outs in March 2016.^[12]

Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance uses the radio call sign Helimed 76 for the Perth helicopter and Helimed 79 for the Aberdeen helicopter.^[7]

In April 2018, the charity announced that a drive was underway to raise £6M towards the running of a second helicopter for a three-year period.^[13] In November, they announced that this second aircraft would be based in Aberdeen and that they hoped that the service would be running by late 2019.^[14] A four-year contract was signed with Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore in September 2019 for a Eurocopter EC135, callsign Helimed 79, to operate from Aberdeen International Airport from early 2020.^[15]

In the year ending March 2021, SCAA raised revenue of £6.0M, of which £3.3M was spent operating the air ambulance service.^[1]

Across 2021 SCAA deployed crews on 810 occasions and airlifted 333 people, with almost three quarters of these patients being flown to a major trauma centre.^[16]

Awards

Crew members were chosen as "Rural Heroes 2017" by the judges at the Scottish Rural Awards.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Charity Details: Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance, SC041845". OSCR. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
^ "Charity Air Ambulance for Scotland" (Press release). Scottish Ambulance Service. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
^ ^a ^b Mackay, Mark (18 March 2017). "Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance crew hailed as nation's rural heroes". The Courier. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
^ "Perth base for Scotland's charity air ambulance". BBC News. BBC. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
^ "'Busy' first month for Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance". BBC News. 24 June 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
^ "Scotland's charity air ambulance alters operating hours to meet demands". BBC News. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
^ ^a ^b "Charity air ambulance hailed as helicopter flies 200th mission". STV News. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
^ "Round the world in 80 days flight takes off from Perth". BBC News. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
^ Burdge, Richard (13 February 2015). "Blue Light display to mark Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance milestone". The Courier. D. C. Thomson & Co. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
^ "Libor fines pay for charity air ambulance". BBC News. BBC. 18 March 2015.
^ "New helicopter unveiled for Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance". STV News. 30 October 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
^ MacPhee, Catriona (29 March 2016). "Charity air ambulance saves hillwalker in 1000th call-out". STV News. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
^ "Second helicopter plan for Scotland's Air Ambulance Charity". BBC News. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
^ "Aberdeen base for second Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance helicopter". BBC News. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
^ "Air ambulance helicopter contract signed for Aberdeen service". BBC News. 9 September 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
^ "Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance records busiest ever year". BBC News. 14 January 2022. Retrieved 10 April 2022.