FAQ's

Why the need for NETS?

The NHS is becoming increasingly centralised with the development of specialist centres of excellence that are amongst the best in the world.

Medical science is keeping new born children alive but in a number of cases they need to be taken to these specialist centres in the shortest time possible with specialist staff and equipment available. Nearly 9 new born children die each day in England and Wales for a variety of reasons. (ref ONS 2010)

Specialist paediatric or neo-natal ambulances are not always instantly available and to have a specialist ambulance reach outlying hospitals can take a number of hours.

What will NETS do?

NETS will provide funding to:

1. Develop specialist Medical Retrieval Teams including additional training in aero-medical transfers and telemedicine.
2. Develop aero-medical transport for long distance transfers to centres of excellence to include a child flight helicopter, 24/7.
3. Fund a national clinical call centre for all of the above to be based in South Yorkshire, which also has the potential to take calls from overseas and provide advice to expatriates.

Why not NHS funded?

1. The NHS will not fund air ambulances, rotary or fixed wing.
2. The NHS has not funded command and control centres for aero-medical work although they will be integrated with the NHS call centres.
3. The high tech developments such as telemedicine are best funded as a pilot programme which can then be rolled out across the NHS.
4. NETS UK is an independent charity who aim to be at the cutting edge of developments. We would rather rely on the people of the country for support rather than statutory funding.

Plans for the future?

1. In year one: To develop an aero-medical base and medical training centre.
2. To develop the command and control centre.
3. To organise aero-medical training courses for clinicians.
4. To organise a national conference on the future of paediatric and neo-natal aero-medicine in the UK.
5. Develop an on-call child flight helicopter dedicated to the transfer of paediatric and new-born infants to the regional
   centres of excellence.
6. Develop an infrastructure for the charity that will enable it to grow in the future.

Why not use existing air ambulances?

1. Air ambulances are funded by the public for emergency work not routine inter-hospital transfers.
2. As HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Services) aircraft they cannot fly at night.
3. Not all have the high-tech equipment dedicated to paediatric and neo-natal work instantly available.
4. None are equipped for tele-medicine.