§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) on what occasions injured service men have been evacuated from Kosovo in the last month; [20449]
(2) what delays have taken place when providing air transport to evacuate service casualties from Kosovo in the last month; [20450]
(3) what transfers of service men evacuated from Kosovo have taken place between Birmingham hospitals in the last month; and if he will make a statement giving reasons for the transfers. [20451]
§ Mr. IngramEight service personnel were aeromedically evacuated from Kosovo to the UK in November. The return of three patients to the UN on 6 November took around four hours longer than originally scheduled, due to the distance some members of the Critical Care Team had to travel to reach RAF Lyneham, the subsequent requirement to undertake a crew change in Italy, and the failure of airfield lights there. We would normally expect aeromedical evacuation from Kosovo to take around 24 hours. On this occasion it took around 26 hours.
Seven of the eight patients went to the Centre for Defence Medicine. Six were admitted to the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust and one was admitted to City Hospital, Birmingham. None of these were transferred from one Birmingham hospital to another. However, one of them was subsequently transferred to a hospital in Scotland for rehabilitative care closer to his family.