Scottish Ambulance Service 4881775 220821562 2008-06-21T19:24:53Z 212.137.70.194 [[Image:Logo scotamb.gif|100px|left|The logo of the Scottish Ambulance Service]] [[Image:Ambulances.jpg|thumb|right|Two [[Mercedes-Benz Sprinter]] ambulances of the Scottish Ambulance Service]] [[Image:Helimed5.jpg|thumb|right|EC-135 G-SASA "Helimed 5" based at [[Glasgow City Heliport]]]] [[Image:J M Briscoe01 02 2008-10 41 47-03145 G-SASA.jpg|thumb|right|Scottish Ambulance Service [[Air Ambulance]] G-SASA waiting at [[Fort William, Scotland|Fort William]] West End car park.]] [[Image:SASRRU.jpg|thumb|right|An SAS FRV (Fast Response Vehicle). A [[Ford Focus (International)|Ford Focus]] estate]] The '''Scottish Ambulance Service''' ([[Scottish Gaelic]]:''Seirbheis Charbadan-eiridinn na h-Alba'') is part of the [[National Health Service in Scotland]], and serves all of [[Scotland]]. It is a [[NHS Scotland#Special Health Boards|Special Health Board]] funded directly by the [[Scottish Executive]] [[Scottish Executive Health Department|Health Department]]. The two main functions of the trust are the provision of an [[Emergency department|accident and emergency]] service to respond to [[999 (emergency telephone number)|999 calls]] and the non-Emergency Service, which performs the role of taking patients to and from their hospital appointments. The national headquarters are in [[Edinburgh]] and there are six divisions within the Service, namely: * '''North West''' - (area HQ - [[Inverness]]) * '''North East''' - (area HQ - [[Aberdeen]]) * '''East Central''' - (area HQ - [[Dundee]]) * '''South East''' - (area HQ - [[Edinburgh]]) * '''West Central''' - (area HQ - [[Glasgow]]) * '''South West''' - (area HQ - [[Ayr]]) The service has the only publicly-funded "Air Wing" in the UK, operated under contract by [[Gama Aviation]]. The fleet consists of two [[Eurocopter EC-135]] helicopters and two [[Beechcraft Super King Air|Beechcraft B200C]] fixed wing aircraft, which provide emergency response and transfers of patients to and from remote areas of Scotland. ==Facts and figures== In 2006/07, the service: <ref>[http://www.scottishambulance.com/docs/Annual_Reports/annual07.pdf Scottish Ambulance Service website annual report]</ref> *Responded to 569,372 accident and emergency incidents *Carried out 1,688,194 non-emergency patient journeys *Flew 3,109 [[air ambulance]] missions *The average response time to life threatening calls throughout Scotland was 8.9 minutes. *The service employs 3973 staff, of which 266 are in management and administration and 13 are board members. ==References== {{Reflist}} == See also == * [[Air Ambulances in the United Kingdom]] * [[Emergency medical services in Scotland]] * [[NHS Scotland]] ==External links== *[http://www.scottishambulance.com/ Scottish Ambulance Service] Official website *[http://www.scottishambulanceservice.co.uk/ Unofficial Site], includes a section on the history of the Service *[http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?airlinesearch=Scottish%20Ambulance%20Service&distinct_entry=true Airliners.net] Scottish Ambulance Service air wing pictures {{UK ambulance service}} [[Category:NHS Scotland]] [[Category:NHS ambulance services]] {{Scotland-org-stub}} {{Med-org-stub}} {{NHS-stub}} [[fr:Scottish Ambulance Service]]