MAAC publicly slams children’s service
The Midlands Air Ambulance Charity (MAAC) has issued a ‘warning’ to its supporters, explaining that it is not connected to The Children’s Air Ambulance Charity (TCAA) or its parent organisation since December 2011, The Air Ambulance Service (TAAS). The service further stated: “MAAC has no reason to believe money given to the TCAA or TAAS will help a single child.”
The Midlands Air Ambulance Charity (MAAC) has issued a ‘warning’ to its supporters, explaining that it is not connected to The Children’s Air Ambulance Charity (TCAA) or its parent organisation since December 2011, The Air Ambulance Service (TAAS). The service further stated: “MAAC has no reason to believe money given to the TCAA or TAAS will help a single child.”
Based in the West Midlands, UK, MAAC is one of a patchwork of helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) charities that covers England and Wales; each largely restricts its fundraising to within its own, exclusive area of operations. The TCAA, meanwhile, has been raising funds nationwide in its bid to launch a dedicated helicopter for secondary paediatric transfers, leading to clashes with the local organisations.
In line with previous statements by UK HEMS services, the MAAC questioned the very need to have a child-dedicated air ambulance: “Midlands Air Ambulance Charity believes there is no evidence for a dedicated childrens (sic) service and that MAAC is capable of fulfilling any child related case in the regions it covers.”
In a statement issued in response to press enquiries, the TCAA said: “It is difficult to understand the purpose of continued attacks from other air ambulance charities … The purpose of [TCAA] is supported by a very wide range of people and professionals across the board. Only local air ambulance charities seem to be opposed to it.” The charity added that in its opinion, the opposition is based on a mistaken belief that TCAA is a HEMS operation, when it is in fact intended to provide a ‘bespoke paediatric transport service’.
MAAC also urged the public to understand the ‘concerning history’ of TCAA before donating to the national charity and criticised the financial activities of the TCAA prior to being taken under TAAS’s wing. The Midlands service mentioned findings by the Charity Commission in February 2011 that literature promoting the TCAA was misleading, further alleging that the TCAA’s literature ‘still falsely suggests that they are a fully operational charity’. Pulling no punches, the MAAC said that in its press release on 23 December 2011, the TCAA ‘falsely claimed to have made their first rescue’, contending that the mission was in fact ‘a perfectly normal mission response carried out by Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance’ (the WNAA is also run by TAAS).
The TCAA’s statement retorts that TAAS is well aware of the TCAA’s past history, conceding that ‘people are right to be concerned about its previous activities’, but also asserting that the takeover by TAAS marked a fresh start: “The Charity Commission has been informed and involved in every stage of our takeover of this charity and they have been very supportive of our model in bringing the objectives of this and other charities into a proper framework with a timetable of actual delivery.”
Countering the claims of peddling false information, the TCAA asserted: “We do not make misleading statements. We are very clear on what we are intending to do and how we are going to do it; and we are very open about how funds will be used … Whilst we do accept that other air ambulance charities are opposed to this service, we do not accept much of the reasoning in the same way that we do not accept that the current system of fragmented air ambulance provision across the UK is the best, most efficient and most cost effective.”