The UK helicopter ambulance tasking study.

Abstract

Helicopter ambulances are a scarce and expensive resource and their use carries significant risk for crew and patients. To establish and compare the tasking criteria, dispatch arrangements and crew configuration for all helicopter ambulance services in the United Kingdom. Structured telephone interview of all helicopter ambulance services in the United Kingdom. Replies were received from all 16 UK air ambulance services. Crew configuration varies between services. Nine services had paramedic only crew, 3 had physician/paramedic crew and 4 had a paramedic crew with variable physician input. Only 2 of the 16 services used a paramedic in the dispatch process. There were 67 different tasking criteria used for air ambulance dispatch across all air ambulances with a range from 4 to 23 for individual air ambulance services. Given the financial burden and physical risk of air ambulance use, there should be a more standardised approach to the tasking, dispatch and crew configuration of air ambulances in the UK.