Air ambulance fears fuel costs may affect patients

An air ambulance charity has said it fears that rising fuel costs and supply issues could affect its ability to reach patients quickly.

The East Anglian Air Ambulance Service operates across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

A spokesperson said there was no immediate risk, but that it was monitoring availability, and that it feared it could end up spending £175,000 on fuel - or "considerably more" - over the course of a year.

"Rising fuel costs are already having a significant impact," said charity chief executive Matthew Jones.

"And any future disruption to supply could seriously affect our ability to reach patients as quickly as possible when every second counts."

Elsewhere, the Wales Air Ambulance Service said it was predicting an expenditure of £45,000 extra each month on fuel, while the Cornwall Air Ambulance said it was already seeing a £10,000 rise in its monthly fuel bills.

Based out of Cambridge and Norwich, the East Anglian service treats on average five patients a day and last year said it tended to 1,845 people.

Each emergency costs the charity about £4,250 on average.

"Any disruption risks delaying our response and, ultimately, putting lives in danger," said Jones.

"It is crucial that policymakers act now to protect air ambulance charities from fuel supply challenges and to ensure emergency response capability is properly safeguarded for the patients who rely on us."

Operating out of Alconbury Weald, north of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, Magpas Air Ambulance said in the space of one month, it had seen its aviation fuel costs rise by 82.5%.

Daryl Brown, its chief executive officer, said: "Fuelling our helicopter and rapid response vehicles is vital to our ability to take the hospital to the patient where every second counts.

"In the last month alone, we had one of our busiest flying days on record and used 900 litres of aviation fuel in one day."

On Monday, global oil prices jumped after US President Donald Trump said its navy seized an Iran-flagged cargo ship.

The Brent crude benchmark oil price rose by more than 4% to $94.20 (£69.60) a barrel.

The prime minister's cost-of-living adviser, Lord Walker, has called for the 5p fuel duty cut to be extended beyond September.

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