UK Coastguard to provide medical transfers

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) outlines a collaboration between the MCA and the NHS’s Retrieve Adult Critical Care Transfer Service – a service hosted by the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW), which provides medical transfers throughout southwest England.

Under the terms of the arrangement, the MCA has granted the Retrieve service ‘Trusted Partner’ status, allowing it to directly contact the agency’s HM Coastguard for assistance in providing medical transfers. The HM Coastguard helicopters are operated on behalf of the MCA by its contracted helicopter provider, Bristow.

The area covered by Retrieve includes all hospitals in the South West Critical Care Network between Gloucestershire in the east, and Cornwall in the west.

The arrangement is the first of its kind, and it is hoped that the MoU could serve as a blueprint for future relationships between the MCA and other medical transfer services across the country.

In a statement, the agency said that the deal has been specifically designed to ensure that ‘core search and rescue (SAR) operations can be continued, while facilitating hospital transfers as effectively as possible’.

According to Charlotte Vere, the government’s Maritime Minister, the agreement is intended to ‘simplify the process’ and ‘improve speed and efficiency of transfer’ for patients.

“In serious medical situations, every second counts and this agreement will help critically ill and injured patients across the southwest of England by transporting them to where they need treatment by the NHS,” added Claire Hughes, Director of HM Coastguard. “We’re proud to be in the first group of public bodies in England to work together in this way to make the very best use of our search and rescue helicopters, making a real difference to seriously ill adult patients.”

Bristow was also selected as the preferred bidder for an SAR contract with the Irish Coast Guard last month – however, incumbent CHC Ireland is currently challenging the decision.