An SAS FRV (Fast Response Vehicle). A Ford Focus estate
The Scottish Ambulance Service (Scottish Gaelic: Seirbheis Charbadan-eiridinn na h-Alba) is part of the National Health Service in Scotland, and serves all of Scotland. It is a Special Health Board funded directly by the Scottish Executive Health Department.
The two main functions of the trust are the provision of an accident and emergency service to respond to 999 calls and the non-Emergency Service, which performs the role of taking patients to and from their hospital appointments.
The national headquarters are in Edinburgh and there are six divisions within the Service, namely:
The service has the only publicly-funded "Air Wing" in the UK, operated under contract by Gama Aviation. The fleet consists of two Eurocopter EC-135 helicopters and two Beechcraft B200C fixed wing aircraft, which provide emergency response and transfers of patients to and from remote areas of Scotland.
Facts and figures
In 2006/07, the service: 1
- Responded to 569,372 accident and emergency incidents
- Carried out 1,688,194 non-emergency patient journeys
- Flew 3,109 air ambulance missions
- The average response time to life threatening calls throughout Scotland was 8.9 minutes.
- The service employs 3973 staff, of which 266 are in management and administration and 13 are board members.
References
See also
External links
|
