Baby ambulance fleet on the road
Published: September 6, 2005
A new fleet of ambulances designed for sick babies has come into service in Scotland.
The four purpose-built ambulances, which are the most modern in the UK, have been fitted with incubators and neo-natal intensive care equipment.
They could help save the lives of more than 1,000 critically ill babies transferred for treatment every year.
Previously there was only one ambulance in Scotland designed for babies, and it was paid for by a Blue Peter appeal.
The Scottish Ambulance Service has spent two years and £1m working with medical staff to build the vehicles.
Each has two incubators, for transporting twins, and all the equipment found in a neo-natal intensive care unit.
They will be based in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow and will transfer about 1,300 babies every year.
Consultant Leslie Jackson works at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow.
She told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “Because of the increasing numbers of transfers in the west of Scotland, clinicians and the ambulance service got together to start to design these newer neo-natal vehicles, which we’ve just recently received.
“First of all, they’re much, much bigger and it allows us to move twins.
“We’ve designed them so that they’re more user friendly and it’s easier for the staff to look after the babies and move babies between hospitals.”
Chief executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, Adrian Lucas, said the new ambulances were a big development.
He said: “I think this takes us into the lead in the UK, with a fleet of vehicles, albeit a small fleet, to deal with the 1,300 babies that we retrieve annually and this is a dedicated resource, specifically for that need.”
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