Offshore Medevac Casualties Forced to wait 20 Minutes for Ambulance on Helipad at ARI
A Shortage of ambulances is delaying emergency helicopter at ARI
Oil and Gas People has witnessed three incidents over the last 2 months where casualties arriving at ARI by Helicopter have had to wait up to 20-minutes for an ambulance to transfer them the short distance to ARI.
The most recent incident happened on Monday the 11th of April when a coastguard helicopter from Shetland airlifted a casualty from a North Sea rig. The incident started at 5pm when the chopper was scrambled but despite 3 hours notice there was no ambulance available when the chopper landed at Aberdeen Infirmary just after 8pm.
The coastguard crew attending at the hospital helipad waited almost 15 minutes before taking matters into their own hands and emptying the contents of their truck onto the helipad and transferring the casualty in the back of the truck to ARI. The ambulance showed up 19 minutes after the Helicopter landed and was turned away by the helicopter pilot.
Oil and Gas People understands that the casualty’s condition was not life threatening but the delays are tying up the coastguard helicopter and the ground crew sent to assist.
In a separate incident on the 22nd of March, a Norwegian rescue helicopter, the only one in the Ekofisk Field offshore, was left sitting for a similar period of time. It is thought the casualty had suffered a heart attack at the time.
A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said: “An emergency ambulance is required to transfer patients arriving by helicopter to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) from the helipad into the hospital. Requests for ambulances to attend the helipad at ARI receive the highest priority, however response times can be affected by surges in emergency demand in the Aberdeen area. This can mean that on some occasions local ambulances are busy dealing with potentially life threatening emergencies. When this is the case, the nearest ambulance will always be sent but this may come from further away. In these cases the patient on the helicopter is in the care of a clinician.”
Oil and Gas People are calling for the ambulance service to review the requirements for an emergency ambulance to attend. The journey could be made in a normal ambulance made available to the coastguard crews that attend each helicopter landing at ARI. SAR Helicopters are a scarce resource and should not be spending time delayed waiting for an ambulance.
