Air-ambulance service set-up would be €11.5m

Providing a dedicated air-ambulance service on the island of Ireland to transfer patients between hospitals using just one helicopter…

Providing a dedicated air-ambulance service on the island of Ireland to transfer patients between hospitals using just one helicopter would cost at least €11.5 million in initial set-up costs and a further €4.1 million a year in operating costs, according to consultants.

Each additional helicopter added could cost up to €4 million in capital and annual running costs and it would take at least three years for the service to be set up.

The consultants' feasibility study, which was commissioned by the Departments of Health in Northern Ireland and the Republic following a recommendation from a cross-Border working group on pre-hospital emergency care, was published yesterday.

Having reviewed existing Helicopter Emergency Medical Services overseas and literature on their effectiveness, the consultancy firm Booz, Allen and Hamilton, concluded there was a role for a dedicated helicopter service in an all-Ireland context for rapid inter-hospital transfer of critically ill or severely injured patients.

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Potential locations for the service would be Dublin, Belfast and Cork, the report said.

The case for having an air ambulance service to pick up patients from their homes or the site of accidents was "significantly less obvious, particularly in terms of cost-effectiveness and in terms of the potential that may exist to divert funds from existing plans and initiatives associated with development of ground ambulance services and other elements of critical care transport", the report said.

The downside to a helicopter service, it added, was the fact that it was costly, could be called out unnecessarily, and whether it could travel would be dictated by weather conditions.

The report warned that an air ambulance service was not a substitute for a good ambulance service.

The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said his officials would now be "exploring the options in relation to helicopter service development in the light of the study".

The Mayo GP and Independent TD, Dr Jerry Cowley, who has been campaigning for the use of helicopters for over a decade, criticised Mr Martin for giving no commitment whatsoever on the matter.

With local services being threatened by Hanly, a helicopter service is an "absolute necessity", he said.

The feasibility study was completed before the Hanly report on hospital reorganisation and the centralisation of full A&E services at major hospitals was published.

However, the report's authors include a note on Hanly in which they say that his recommendations of this report and their implementation have major implications for the ambulance service in the Republic of Ireland and account of this must be taken when considering the possibility of introducing dedicated helicopter emergency service.