The EMRS was formed in 2004 when NHS Argyll and Clyde approved a 12-month trial which involved 11 consultants in emergency or intensive care medicine. The EMRS were initially based at Glasgow City Heliport and operated only in the Argyll and Clyde area. Over the first 12 months the EMRS attended 40 patients. In 2007, the service was extended to cover three rural general hospitals and 13 community hospitals as part of an 18-month trial funded with £1.59million. The success of the service saw its operating zone expanded throughout the west coast of Scotland and the EMRS now operates from Stranraer in the south to Stornoway in the north. An independent service evaluation demonstrated value for money and lifesaving benefits of critical care retrieval. In March 2010, the Scottish Government acknowledged that due to its continuing success, the service would be further enhanced by the addition of a second team, operational from October 2010. The second team increased the number of participating consultants and Doctors from eight to fifteen. In 2010, around 90% of EMRS activity involved secondary retrieval. Annual running costs were now in the region of £2M. In 2011, annual activity was estimated to be 324 transfers each year with around 60% of these by rotary wing and 35% by fixed-wing aircraft. In June 2014, EMRS teams began to routinely carry a stock of O negativeblood to allow transfusion earlier when responding to emergencies. During the period of the 2014 Commonwealth Games a third team of medics was available. , the staff of the service had expanded to include 27 part-time consultants and had completed more than 3,000 retrievals. In September 2015, the EMRS announced their move to a new purpose-built base, located at Glasgow Airport.
Resources
In addition to responding by road the EMRS is supported by aircraft from the Scottish Ambulance Service's Air Ambulance Division, and the helicopters of the UK Coastguard.
The EMRS functions supplementary to the regular Scottish Ambulance Service Air Ambulance service. Unlike air ambulance services in other parts of the UK, both services are funded by the Scottish Government. The service responds to seriously ill and injured patients, often in remote locations, who require early critical care interventions and quick transfer to a better equipped, urban hospital. The EMRS have occasionally featured on the Channel 5 documentary series Highland Emergency, which charts the work of rescue services in the Scottish Highlands.
Context
Many other countries with large populations in rural or inaccessible areas have developed similar schemes. For example, the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia operates on very similar lines to the EMRS. New Zealand and Canada have also developed similar patient retrieval services in support of their rural health care practitioners.
Awards
In March 2010, EMRS won the Secondary Care Team of the Year category in the BMJ awards for its work in “transforming the care and transfer of seriously ill and injured patients in remote and rural Scotland”. This award recognised hospital teams that demonstrate improved outcomes of medical & surgical conditions. In 2012, the app developed by the EMRS won the EHI award for best use of mobile technology in healthcare and the NHS Scotland eHealth award for Best NHS Scotland use of Mobile technology.
