Air ambulance services in the United Kingdom
Air ambulance services in the United Kingdom provide emergency medical functions, patient transport between specialist centres, or medical repatriation. Services are provided by a mixture of organisations, operating either helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft. All emergency air ambulance helicopters in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are operated by charities, while Scotland has one charity service in addition to its two NHS-funded helicopters. Fixed-wing air ambulances, used for patient transport, may be government or privately operated. Air ambulance helicopters are complemented by Coastguard SAR helicopters.
Image: Penzance air ambulance at St Clare (May 2020) cropped
Image: G TAAS (36135925083)
Image: G PICU Leonardo AW169 Helicopter Specialist Aviation Services Ltd (38285934702)
Image: G TCAA Agusta Westland AW169 Helicopter
Air medical services are the use of aircraft, including both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to provide various kinds of medical care, especially prehospital, emergency and critical care to patients during aeromedical evacuation and rescue operations.
A Sécurité Civile EC145 helicopter conducts rescues operations for the French Minister of the Interior
Sequence image of mountain take-off by an Agusta A109 SP Grand "Da Vinci" helicopter from Rega air rescue service
A Eurocopter EC 145 of Switzerland's Rega air rescue service
Air ambulances often employ high-visibility colour schemes, like Ontario's distinctive ORNGE helicopters. An ORNGE AgustaWestland AW139 is shown with the Toronto skyline in the background.
