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]]
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[[fr:Scottish Ambulance Service]]