minutes of a meeting held in - Shetland Communities

Mrs Massie will arrange a date and venue for the meeting and will circulate
the details to the JLG members in the near future.
Action: Kate Massie/Jan Riise
2009/04/05 AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE
The Chairman introduced Mr Simon Bokor-Ingram, Director of Clinical
Services, NHS Shetland to the meeting.
Mr Bokor-Ingram introduced Mr Peter Smith, Scottish Ambulance Service,
Lerwick Base to the members. Mr Boker-Ingram went on to speak about the
allocation of NHS Shetland budget and explained that the Ambulance
Service was funded separately. He also noted the exemplary commitment of
service from local ambulance staff.
Mr Bokor-Ingram told the members that the Ms Pauline Howie from the
Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) had attended the NHS Shetland Board
Meeting in January 2009 to discuss the service being provided to Shetland
and she will also attend the NHS Board Meeting on 12 th May 2009. Mr Ian
Isbister asked if Tavish Scott would be attending the Board meeting in May.
Mr Bokor-Ingram said no as SAS requires time to look at improving service
delivery to Shetland. Mr Bokor-Inram said that Ms Wogan-Blake who had
been in correspondence with the ASCC was misinformed on what was
happening between NHS and SAS. NHS Shetland shares the concerns that
ASCC have regarding SAS service delivery in Shetland and Mr Bokor-
Ingram said that one of the Consultant Anaesthetists based at Gilbert Bain
Hospital in Lerwick is presently carrying out an audit on the delivery of the air
ambulance service in Shetland. It was also noted that NHS Shetland were
under the impression that ASCC had not invited anyone from SAS to attend
the meeting but the Chairman said that the ASCC had invited them on two
occasions but they had not attended. It was agreed that Mrs Kate Massie
would forward copies of the correspondence to Mr Bokor-Ingram for his
information.
The Chairman invited Mr Douglas Anderson, Chairman, Skerries Community
Council for his comments as the patients from Skerries had been affected by
the inability of the Inverness-based air ambulance to evacuate them within a
reasonable time.
Mr Anderson said that on two specific occasions when the air ambulance
had been urgently required it had proved to be inefficient and on one
occasion, through local pressure, they had managed to get the rescue
helicopter based in Sumburgh to airlift the patient to hospital. Mr Anderson
went on to say that on the other occasion the patient had died but stressed
that, in this case, a faster air ambulance response would unlikely have made
any difference.
Mr Anderson asked about use of Clickimin landing site in Lerwick and Mr
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