7:00am Sunday 21st March 2010
By Jill Crooks
In the skies of Wiltshire a unique partnership has been operating for the past 20 years.
The county’s police force and ambulance service were the first in the country to operate a joint police helicopter/air ambulance and since its launch on March 15, 1990 it has attended more than 10,000 incidents and saved countless lives.
The Wiltshire Air Ambulance is one of only two air ambulances in the country that can fly at night and is one of only a few that can defibrillate patients in flight.
The police pay 65 per cent of the £1.3million annual running costs of the helicopter while the remainder is raised by the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Appeal soley through public donations.
Retired RAF doctor and pilot Dr Richard Riseley-Prichard, co-founder of the appeal who lives in the Pewsey Vale, said: “The police officers and paramedics onboard the helicopter work in total harmony. From the very beginning it’s been an incredibly cohesive partnership.
“The partnership with the police has allowed us to provide an air ambulance service at a quarter of the cost or even less of a stand alone air ambulance.”
The dual role of the helicopter means that being tasked to a police incident, such as finding a missing person, can result in the aircraft being used in its air ambulance role when the person needs to be flown to hospital, saving time and money.
In other counties where joint helicopters do not exist, a police helicopter would be used and then an air ambulance would be called to transport the patient.
However, the joint partnership was at risk of being broken up when the Great Western Ambulance Service said in 2008 that it did not want to renew the helicopter contract for the five years the police were seeking.
Following an outcry from the public, the GWAS backed down and signed up with Wiltshire Police for a further five years.
The concept of a joint helicopter came following an incident in 1988 when Wiltshire Police used a helicopter it had hired to monitor the summer solstice celebrations.
While in the air the crew heard of a potentially fatal accident involving a woman on the A350 at Beanacre and landed to see if it could help.
The police observer on board, Mike Evans, said: “It was pointed out to us the casualty would be unlikely to survive the trip to hospital by road ambulance so myself and the pilot, John Ball, decided to get her onboard the helicopter to fly her to hospital.”
The front observer’s seat was removed to make way for the stretcher and Mr Evans vacated the aircraft for the paramedic.
The flight to Bath’s Royal United Hospital took five minutes – and the patient survived.
Working round the clock -
The crew of the Wiltshire air ambulance consists of pilot, police officer and paramedic.
The police officers have first aid training but have additional skills so they can assist the paramedic by setting up IV drips, drawing up drugs and applying a neck collar.
The paramedic assists the police officer in flight with navigation.
At the end of last year the helicopter was equipped with a camera system that can seek people up to two miles away.
The helicopter began operating full-time at night for police tasks in 1998, but in 2001 was given permission to carry out medical tasks during darkness.
The ability to fly at night is due to the helicopter’s thermal imaging camera. A Air ambulances not combined with a police helicopter do not have this equipment.
Air Ambulance factfile -
* The joint helicopter flies 19 hours a day.
* The helicopter is leased from Police Aviation Services, which also employs the pilots.
* The running cost of the helicopter is £1.3million a year. The police pay £800,000 while the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Appeal has to raise £500,000 a year from public donations.
* In 2009 the helicopter attended 628 police incidents and 518 medical tasks, conveying 306 patients to hospital. During night time hours it attended 374 police incidents and 134 ambulance incidents, carrying 88 patients.
* The five-year contract for the joint helicopter between Wiltshire Police and Great Western Ambulance Service was agreed in December 2008 but started in December 2009 following an £850,000 upgrade of the aircraft.
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