Air ambulances- who should fund them?

Prince William is now working as an air ambulance pilot- see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33503191

But why should air ambulances have to be funded privately by donation? Vehicular emergency ambulances aren’t. They’re treated just like both the other emergency services (sorry, AA, you don’t count!) And such helicopters ought to be, too.

I found it weird that Prince William will donate his 40k salary to charities(given the fact his salary will be mostly made from charity money )

Give credit where its due though,he doesn't exactly have to do the job:D .

They are publicly funded in the Netherlands, the issue there as it will be here, is that the cost is enormous and the benefits are doubtful. I know that sounds harsh, especially as the son of someone who worked on one, but the cost-benefit ratios are pretty darned steep. One pick-up in an ambulance cost (back 10 years ago in the NLs) around 700 euros, the heli cost over 15,000 euros, in many cases the ambulance could get there in just over 5 minutes extra - that is a lot of money for five minutes. Of course the big difference was that the heli would have a full surgical team on-board (trauma doctor and nurse).

There are exceptions, for example with islands and so on, but in general, the benefit of a trauma-heli is dubious.

Having said all that: I am happy to donate a healthy amount to YAA every year and will continue to support them and the RNLI (whole different beast!) directly.

who should fund them ?

The idiots that use them!

(I'm thinking the bbc and that annoying little twerp from top gear)

I found it weird that Prince William will donate his 40k salary to charities(given the fact his salary will be mostly made from charity money )

Give credit where its due though,he doesn't exactly have to do the job:D .

Maybe a bit of a advert for the service

They are publicly funded in the Netherlands, ....

Are there any charitable ones, or just the 4 state-funded aircraft?

Are there any charitable ones, or just the 4 state-funded aircraft?

When my dad started the North Netherlands one was publicly funded and was in addition to the navy SAR helicopter that serviced the Wadden islands, not quite sure what the situation is now.

Both police and ambulances should be publicly funded. They are both fantastic resources. We had several 10% council tax increases to fund a police helicopter in Sheffield money well spent... Still paying for that increase now!

Recently a charity shop has opened in Chesterfield its for the Air Ambulance, a while after its opening a guy came round my area asking people to give money for the running costs. As been said here the bill for maintenance and fuel will be high I think either the local council or government should give these services a grant towards the costs and the rest made up though donations. I think the helicopter will more used for the Peak area than urban areas.

Both police and ambulances should be publicly funded. They are both fantastic resources. We had several 10% council tax increases to fund a police helicopter in Sheffield money well spent... Still paying for that increase now!

Much the same as Barnsley/Rotherham/Doncaster who also funded the police helicopter it in their council tax, who also I might also fund the Sheffield Supertram in their council tax. If the police helicopter can be funded by the taxpayer its only right that the Air Ambulance should also be funded also by the taxpayer.

Insurance companies should pay for them....

Car insurance, home insurance, personal injury insurance

Both police and ambulances should be publicly funded. They are both fantastic resources. We had several 10% council tax increases to fund a police helicopter in Sheffield money well spent... Still paying for that increase now!

Underlined, that's not a full reason for publicly funding them - that's just an obvious statement.

bold, At only 10% tax for a city/and area with a huge population and number of contributors, it seems like a bargain... but not everywhere is populated so densely...

how many should be distributed and where, and paid for by whom? If there is a full ambulance service for the whole country, then you are going to have to pay a lot more than 10%, unless you are suggesting localised taxing.

Someone who lives in rural district can't afford this, so the cost has to be divided between all of us.

---------- Post added 14-07-2015 at 01:05 ----------

Insurance companies should pay for them....

 

Car insurance, home insurance, personal injury insurance

and insurance money, of course, comes from the sky-pixies. This is the way we are heading though!

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Haven't you ever seen police interceptors?

They either don't catch them, or do catch them and they get a weak/week penalty... however, regardless it tends to be quite consistent that many of the perpetrators that cause the need to for the chopper to be deployed, tend not to be insured (at best! ).