Post by: Vulcan on November 05, 2007, 02:09:47 pm
Post by: Fouga on November 05, 2007, 03:44:04 pm
Post by: SousaTeuszii on November 06, 2007, 04:10:25 pm
Sort out the ground ambulances first before wasting money on an over priced ambulance that can only operate in good weather and can only deal with one patient at a time. More non hospital based comunity ambulances would provide a better response for much less money.
ST
Post by: Vulcan on November 06, 2007, 09:54:55 pm
| Quote (SousaTeuszii @ 06 Nov. 2007,07:10) |
| Cant see it 'taking off' myself. At a time when the HSE wont hire porters I cant see them providing staff for air ambulances and personnally if its a choice between donating to keep cancer care or an over hyped ambulance Id go for the cancer care any day. Sort out the ground ambulances first before wasting money on an over priced ambulance that can only operate in good weather and can only deal with one patient at a time. More non hospital based comunity ambulances would provide a better response for much less money. ST |
Some good points there. I found the article in the Galway Advertiser so here it is.
Ireland’s first private air ambulance,
which will be based at Galway Airport,
will take to the skies in March.
The service, which will be provided by
Executive Helicopters and the Blackrock
Ambulance Service, will dramatically
reduce the time it takes to transfer
critically ill patients from Galway to
Dublin hospitals by well over an hour.
Ambulances normally take at least two
hours to do this while the travel time for
the helicopter service would be 43
minutes.
The new service will cover the western
seaboard and will signal an end to the
fact that Ireland was the only country in
Europe without a dedicated air
ambulance service - it has been in
existence in Germany for more than 30
years.
A spokesperson for HeliMed Ireland
said the air ambulance is capable of
flying day or night but will operate
during daylight hours initially until
hospitals have helipads fitted with
landing lights for night operations.
It will be staffed by a pilot and two
paramedics and can carry two patients. It
will be available for hire by the Health
Service Executive, charities, for special
events (sports, festivals) and individuals.
The benefits of providing a dedicated
air ambulance service are significant,
according to the spokesperson.
“Trauma patients receive faster
paramedic treatment and subsequent
specialist care, arriving at the
appropriate treatment centre much
sooner than if transported by land
ambulance. Patient outcomes can be
improved, less medical deterioration
occurs, potentially therefore in-hospital
periods will be reduced.
“The use of an air ambulance
conveying patients who need to be
transferred to out of area hospitals
improves the availability of the existing
land ambulance and medical resources.
The ability to transfer ICU patients at
times of hospital overload are greatly
improved. The air ambulance represents
a significant gain in the provision of
emergency/urgent health care
transportation within Ireland.”
The spokesperson outlines that air
ambulances are not new. “They are
available in all other European countries,
including those in the former eastern
European countries. Air ambulance
operations in these countries play an
important role in the infrastructure of
health care transportation.”
This may clarify their intentions better than I could. The HSE already pay an absolute fortune for ambulance transfer to dublin as they pay by the hour ( apparently). It would also free up the Coast Guard helicopter.
Post by: SousaTeuszii on November 07, 2007, 08:34:53 am
Also why not operate at night from the pads that do have lights, ie Castlebar. Ill tell you why, because he does not have permission to fly night time VMC and there is no other way into or out of the pad. Also, how would he cross the country at night in low icing level conditions. He wont be able to go IFR and he cant go VMC. Its no wonder its day time only and hes blaming it on the hospitals.
Big fudge of the capabilities here! Dont believe all thats in the press.
ST
Post by: Flyboy on November 07, 2007, 09:59:47 am
Post by: Tech Crew on November 07, 2007, 11:13:03 am
On a similar note Our Lady's Childrens Hospital in Crumlin has started using their helipad again and have set up an agreement with the Air Corps to transfer seriously ill kids from around the country to Crumlin. The EC135's have been in and out Crumlin quite a bit recently both training and on jobs.
Post by: Flyboy on November 07, 2007, 01:16:50 pm
Post by: Vulcan on November 07, 2007, 01:20:20 pm
If this is the one they will be using and its on lease then it aint coming cheap so like what has been said, I doubt if it would be a dedicated Air Ambulance. Also, I think it was said, not in the article here, that the fact that a lot of the major hospitals don't have helipads, Cork hospital for one would tend to hinder the service. I was under the impression that most of them did?
Post by: SousaTeuszii on November 07, 2007, 01:35:50 pm
I heard that the machine was a 222. Cant see that having the performance to 'legally' operate out of pads with all that gear either.
ST
Post by: Dublin Spotter on November 07, 2007, 03:01:42 pm
Post by: Vulcan on November 07, 2007, 06:28:54 pm
Post by: SousaTeuszii on November 08, 2007, 10:29:30 am
However this is only to allow the aircraft to reject back onto the area below. In the event of an engine failure after rotation the aircraft would then descend to within approx 35ft of the pad. At this point it must climb on one engine from 35ft up to a safe altitude above local obstacles. I am not sure of the Bell 222s performance but comparable twins could use up to 300m to get to 200ft.
Effectively this means that the pad area would have to be 30m*30m and have about 300m of area with low objects to allow for a single engine departures. I dont think there is a pad like that in the country.
Not necessarily a problem with the 222 as all aircraft will have this problem to greater or lesser extent, depending on performance, in Irish pads.
ST
Post by: warthog on November 09, 2007, 12:34:40 am
Post by: SousaTeuszii on November 09, 2007, 10:15:45 am
ST
Post by: Vulcan on November 09, 2007, 10:41:59 am
Post by: SousaTeuszii on November 09, 2007, 04:44:00 pm
I cant specifically answer your question but I do know that the UK have a HEMS section in their regulations much like the Police Air Operators manual which may allow some lee way. Ireland to my knowledge has neither.
However the fact remains that all aircraft operating in congested or hostile areas must do so with class one performance. Obviously this cannot be tied down to every field in the country so a lot would be the crews 'judgement call' except at designated pads were they must meet regulatory requirements.
The fact also remains that even if a HEMS operation is given a deregation to the regulations, in the event of an accident they will be culpable and liable. This is better shown by vehicles with blue lights. They are allowed through red traffic lights by agreement only and not by law. If they cause an accident breaking a light they are fully liable.
With regard to the 32 county AA charity, how many counties will support an AA based in Kerry? Will the Northwest, West and East, not likely. So whats the population of the southwest and how much are they likely to fork out year after year?
When we compare ourselves to the UK we forget 2 very important things:
1. The population of the UK. Each county of the UK probably has close to the entire population of Ireland if not more. This makes life a lot easier for charity collections in small highly populated areas which each would be served by 1 helicopter. Even with this, many have failed to reach fruitition.
2. The UK already has a very good road based ambulance service. The AA is an added capability not a replacement or gap filler. Our whole strategy is based on getting people help that otherwise would have to wait hours for an ambulance. Good idea but a day/ good weather only AA service can never replace a good ground based system. Lets get that right before we waste even more money.
ST