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Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance is an organisation which assists the Scottish Ambulance Service with emergency medical services through the provision of a helicopter air ambulance. The helicopter is run by a registered charity, hoping to raise money from public and private donations in excess of £1.5 million every year.
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The air ambulance works alongside and complements the state-funded aircraft that also operate across Scotland. Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance consists of a Eurocopter EC-135 airframe crewed by Scottish Ambulance Service paramedics. The aircraft is based at Perth Airport and tasking is from the SAS ambulance control centre at Cardonald. As of March 2017 they have flown 1,300 missions.
History
It commenced operations in May 2013 with a Bolkow 105 airframe and flew 40 missions in the first month. 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. By January 2014 the air ambulance had flown its 200th mission. In May 2014, after a year of operations they had completed nearly 300 missions. By February 2015 the ambulance had been despatched on almost 500 missions.
In March 2015, it was announced that the charity would receive £3.3 m (allocated from Libor fines) which would allow the charity to replace their helicopter with a larger, more capable aircraft.
In October 2015, they upgraded to a Eurocopter EC-135, which is faster and more powerful than the Bolkow. The charity reached 1,000 call-outs in March 2016.
Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance runs with the radio call sign Helimed 76.
Awards
Crew members were chosen as "Rural Heroes 2017" by the judges at the Scottish Rural Awards.