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Whilst I think its good that my local air ambulance is getting funded, I do wonder if people (as in joe public) have realised that there are many other air ambulances in the country that also require funding to help them continue doing their job. I appreciate that the "hamster's" accident was here, but it seems such a shame that its taken this much for the air ambulance service to be noticed and that its only one then

Totally agree with you there Dink, it seems a sad state of affairs really thats its taken an accident involving somebody famous to highlight a medical service that we all overlook !

I had the use of the Western counties air ambulance a few years ago when i got injured playing rugby, and they were absolutely top !

Its a shame that the funding isn’t centralised so all the air ambulance trusts can benefit .... But atleast it’s going somewhere beneficial to the public, not just in flowers & tributes which they obviously don’t want.

well by my reckoning from the site above they have enough funds to run for the next 475 days. Note that does not include donations made directly to them or funds they get from visiting events where they have a stall, people that have wage deductions and gift aid donations ....

I think its really great, but I do think that maybes some of it should be passed onto other areas air ambulance service provides, am sure there will now be some that are flagging in funds than the Yorkshire one and that would be delighted to have some funds, and yes its a shame there isn't a national and I know they only have one chopper as its located/kept/flown from where my dad works, but I'm pretty sure they ain't the only region that struggles.

I wonder if this will trigger anyone else to think of their local air ambulance and raise funds.

I have no idea about scotland but below is a few samples from other air ambulances, I found all bar the London one receive NO funding from the government or the NHS I'm guessing thats down to the vast population there, but also the fact that government is there .... and the nhs board is in London....

http://www.airambulance.co.uk/pages/about.htm

Our three helicopters serves an area of 8,000 sq miles and a population of over 7.8million.

Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Rutland, Warwickshire, the West Midlands and the Welsh borders

http://www.angliaone.org.uk/

Since its foundation in 2000, the charity has expanded to provide a 365 day a year service covering the 5,000 sq. miles of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The equipment is expensive, and running costs are high at £65,000 per month, however, this equates to just 50p per person per year for the population of East Anglia

http://www.wnaa.co.uk/

The Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance has been operating since October 2003. Serving over 1.2million people in Warwickshire and Northamptonshire, WNAA also provides a life saving service to the thousands of people who use the county’s busy roads during the day. When needed, WNAA also covers Market Harborough, Milton Keynes, Banbury and other outlying areas. The cost of this life saving service is over £1.3 million pounds per year, none of which comes from the Government or the National Lottery.

http://www.wiltshireairambulance.co.uk/

The Air Ambulance Appeal is entirely dependent upon public support to raise the £350,000 a year to keep the service flying. This is only a quarter of the running costs of the helicopter. The remaining three quarters is funded by the police who use it for various incidents.

http://www.cornwall-online.co.uk/air-am ... lcome.html

Cornwall's Air Ambulance, the first helicopter emergency medical service in the United Kingdom, was brought into service on 1st April 1987. Operational costs for the Cornwall Air Ambulance currently average over £65,000 each month, all of which has to been paid by means of charitable donations as the helicopter receives no form of "official" funding.

http://www.greatnorthairambulance.co.uk/

The Great North Air Ambulance Service is a registered charity (No. 1092204) established in May 1991 to provide an air ambulance for the then Northumbria Ambulance Service NHS Trust. By 1994 sufficient funds had been generated by the charity, enabling it to purchase the first ever air ambulance helicopter in the North of England. Providing emergency medical cover for the North of England, North Yorkshire and Cumbria an area of approximately 5500 square miles with a population of 3.5 million people.

Note this is the only one that mentions NHS funding despite the rest all working along side the nhs
http://www.hems-london.org.uk/

LONDON'S AIR AMBULANCE is based at The Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel. It is the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service for London and the M25 area, providing pre-hospital trauma care to over 17.5% of the UK population. We receive some funding from the NHS, and Virgin sponsor half of the helicopter lease. Despite their generosity, inflation and increased demand for our service means that an additional £500,000 per annum is needed to keep the helicopter flying during daylight hours and to enable the service to cary on it's work out of hours in rapid response cars.

And Wales, funded by contributions

http://www.walesairambulance.com/

Personally i think its a crying shame ..that these ESSENTIAL.. life saving services..are only part funded by the government.. When i think about the Wanton waste of public money on hairbrained schemes.. like millenium domes..scottish parliament buildings..redecorating the lord chancellors grace and favour pad....every county in the kingdom could have had half a dozen air ambulances...over recent years we seem to have turned basic rights into privellages..and that we should be thankful we have any emergency services at all..in Gordon browns speech today he mentioned his opinion that politicians were there to serve the public....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!??
GETTING THEM TO LISTEN WOULD BE A FINE THING.. never mind serving the public...talk about delusional..

dink wrote:Whilst I think its good that my local air ambulance is getting funded, I do wonder if people (as in joe public) have realised that there are many other air ambulances in the country that also require funding to help them continue doing their job. I appreciate that the "hamster's" accident was here, but it seems such a shame that its taken this much for the air ambulance service to be noticed and that its only one then

Too right, reminds me in a small way of the vomit inducing bile that was Dianas abortion of a wake. What are the general public like, mostly Sun readers i think!!!

Saying that atleast some money will be going to a decent cause and not more Brown Ale and pickled herring.

dink wrote:Whilst I think its good that my local air ambulance is getting funded, I do wonder if people (as in joe public) have realised that there are many other air ambulances in the country that also require funding to help them continue doing their job. I appreciate that the "hamster's" accident was here, but it seems such a shame that its taken this much for the air ambulance service to be noticed and that its only one then

That was exactly my thoughts well said

Chris.