At the Northern Ireland Air Ambulance Service committee meeting at St Angelo Airport recently were, from left, Peter Quinn (Trustee), Alan Cathcart (Managing Director, Enniskillen Airport), Ian Crowe (Chairman), Ray Foran (Trustee) and Rodney Connor (Trustee) RMG44
THE MAIN BASE for the new £4m Air Ambulance service in the North looks set to be based in Belfast and not in Enniskillen.
On Monday Health Minister Simon Hamilton backed Belfast International Airport as the base for the service, with £4m committed to the project in George Osborne’s budget announcement last Wednesday.
The Minister, during a visit to Craigavon Area Hospital, announced the key findings of the HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) consultation including the management and funding models, home base location, target patient groups and collaboration with other services. Mr Hamilton explained further:
“We will shortly begin the process of procurement and recruitment and sorting out staff rotas, and begin investing in enabling capital works on the helipad at the Major Trauma Centre at the Royal Victoria Hospital.
“The Major Trauma Network and the HEMS will operate in a joined-up way. For this reason, Belfast International Airport offers the greatest potential benefit as the main base for the HEMS, both practically in terms of existing infrastructure, and geographically in terms of its proximity to the greatest number of potential HEMS missions, the Major Trauma Centre, the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service, and a pool of physicians and paramedics from across the region who will staff HEMS rotas.”
It is understood that a secondary base will be located at St Angelo Airport in Enniskillen, but at this stage no confirmation has been given on the specifics of the project, including what way the service will run and the location.
Since the campaign for the service to be introduced gained momentum following the death of Dr John Hinds in July 2015 Enniskillen has been touted as a possible location for the Air Ambulance, receiving support from First Minister Arlene Foster and Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.
The Northern Ireland service is expected to be closely based on the current Welsh model, which has three helicopters and is run by a charity, but staffed by the NHS. The charity in pole position to run the service here is Air Ambulance Northern Ireland. Local Trustee of the charity and former Fermanagh District Council chief executive Rodney Connor is first and foremost delighted that funding has been confirmed for the service.
“Our objective was to have an Air Ambulance for Northern Ireland and as far as I’m concerned that has been achieved, that’s the main thing. All these other things are secondary and must be don jointly by all the people involved in the partnership.”
In regards to the strong indications Belfast will be the base Mr Connor said no official decision had yet been made.
“I would like to think everything is fairly open until we see what is the best way forward which will include deciding upon what is the best location.
“I have no doubt there will be a strong force to have it at Aldergrove, but until that decision is made we will just have to wait and see what happens.”
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