Information Bulletin
24 September 2004
Air Ambulance Service
Mr Jim Kerrse
Information Support Officer
Scottish Ambulance Service
National Headquarters
Tipperlinn Road
Edinburgh.
EH10 5 UU
Our ref: IA60
Dear Mr Kerrse
I am writing to you to express my serious concern in relation to the future provision of the air ambulance service as it affects Shetland. I am aware that the preferred supplier, Gamma Aviation, proposes an arrangement whereby there will be two Kingair aircraft based in Glasgow and Aberdeen supplemented, in our case, by a Super Puma helicopter based at Scatsta airport in Shetland.
I am led to believe that the Scatsta-based helicopter is principally there in order to provide offshore logistical support and that its availability for the Ambulance Service at any particular time cannot be guaranteed. I am further advised that the proposed contract does not allow use of the Super Puma helicopter for ambulance flights to the Scottish mainland, which is perhaps contrary to some people's understanding of what is intended. Instead, its role will be limited to transporting patients from outlying areas of Shetland to medical facilities in Lerwick, or to Tingwall Airport or Sumburgh Airport for onward transport to the Scottish mainland by the fixed-wing Kingair aircraft.
Be that as it may, my principal concern at this moment is that it would appear that there is no guarantee, under the proposed arrangements, that we shall be able to evacuate an emergency medical case to the Scottish mainland in adverse weather conditions. At the moment, it is possible to do so in virtually all conditions because the Tingwall-based aircraft is able to take off in weather (for example very low cloud or mist) that would prevent an Aberdeen-based aircraft from landing in Shetland. Under the new contract, there will be times when the Kingair cannot land in Shetland and it will be impossible to evacuate a patient. Our understanding is that this might typically happen on as many as six occasions each year. The prospect is, bluntly, that lives will be put at serious risk and that some people may die as a result of these arrangements. As I trust you will appreciate, we regard this outcome as totally unacceptable. We believe that there must be an aircraft based in Shetland - and ideally at Tingwall, the airport closest to the Lerwick hospital - that can take a patient to the Scottish mainland whenever an Aberdeen-based aircraft is unable to land. The contract needs to make that provision.
I realise that there is currently a consultation on these proposals and that there will be an opportunity to discuss them more fully at a special meeting of our Environment and Transport Forum on 12 October, which I believe you will be attending. Nevertheless, feelings among Council colleagues and local stakeholders on this issue are so strong that I felt I should make you aware of these very serious concerns immediately.
If you can provide, in the meantime, any further information that would assist in clarifying the position, I should greatly appreciate it.
Yours sincerely
Councillor Jim Irvine
Ends