§ Mr. WigginTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether ambulance trusts can be reimbursed by charity for the cost of staff who serve on helicopter ambulances. [40894]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 7 March 2002]: From April 2002, the NHS will meet the cost of approximately £150,000 for equipping each air ambulance helicopter with a paramedic crew. The staff who crew these aircraft are responding on behalf of NHS ambulance trusts to emergency patients who would otherwise be conveyed by land ambulances.