Coronavirus grounds air ambulance
AS MEDICS NEEDED TO FIGHT PANDEMIC
THE Yorkshire Air Ambulance has been grounded by the effort to fight coronavirus.
At the start of last week one of the two helicopters was taken out of service as medical staff were needed on the NHS frontline.
Yesterday the decision was taken to ground the second helicopter too.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS) and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) said it was an “extremely difficult decision” to redeploy all of their critical care paramedics on to frontline land ambulance duties.
This comes just days after it was announced that the YAA’s critical care consultants were to be redeployed back to their respective hospitals to focus on their primary roles in emergency medicine, anaesthesia and critical care across Yorkshire.
The announcement coincides with the news that the Harrogate Convention Centre is to be opened as one of four national Coronavirus NHS Nightingale Hospitals specifically set up to deal with patients of the pandemic.
YAA chairman Peter Sunderland said: “As the NHS anticipates the coronavirus crisis will intensify in the region over the next few weeks, demand on the new Nightingale Hospital in Harrogate will inevitably increase.
“This means that patients will need transferring by road ambulance to the facility, and this will be supported by YAS’s specialist team of highly skilled paramedics.
“As our critical care paramedics fall into this category, is it vitally important that their skills are utilised to provide as much support as possible during this crisis period.”
This means that for a temporary period, the YAA will be unable to fly either of their helicopters for emergency purposes for now.
They will however, be periodically undertaking some essential and mandatory pilot training, along with the possibility of providing assistance to the civil powers.
This may include transferring essential medical equipment or personnel across the region at some point in the future.
More than £2m has been raised for YAA by Huddersfield Town fans over the last 10 years, as part of the club’s Keep It Up campaign.
Mr Sunderland added: “Obviously this situation isn’t ideal for the charity, however we know we must do whatever we can to support our colleagues in the NHS and at YAS, and by redeploying our doctors and paramedics back to the frontline.
“We do wish to reinforce, however, that this is just a temporary measure, and that the YAA crews and helicopters will be back flying as soon as the situation starts to safely subside.
“It is times like these when, as a nation, we must all pull together to support one and other, and in particular the NHS and our key workers.
“Our vital contribution at this time is to support them by redeploying our key medical personnel back to the frontline, where they are currently needed the most.
“The charity will continue to do everything it can at this time to plan for the future, and as soon as this situation has safely subsided, our helicopters will be back in the air and our fundraising teams will be back out and about supporting and educating the people of Yorkshire about the wonderful work we do.”
The YAA crew completed their last shift on Friday night.