Specialist SAS service celebrates 10 years of life-saving work

The Scottish Ambulance Service’s specialist transport and retrieval service (ScotSTAR) is celebrating ten years of providing life-saving care to some of Scotland’s most vulnerable patients.

ScotSTAR is a multi-disciplinary team of paramedics, nurses, advanced practitioners, and doctors supported by pilots working together to provide specialist care to seriously ill babies, children and adults across Scotland using specialist helicopters and planes.

In 2022/23 ScotSTAR provided specialist care for 3158 seriously ill children and adults with the air ambulance crews attending 4527 incidents – an increase of 10% from the year before.

Mum Amie Taylor, of Ellon, Aberdeenshire, said ScotSTAR provided an invaluable service to her very sick son, Jackson, who was born four weeks prematurely in 2022.

Jackson was placed in a ventilator and had to be transported from Aberdeen to Edinburgh with the help of ScotSTAR staff, Dr Mark Worrall, Paediatric Consultant, and Ashley Daye, Paediatric Retrieval Nurse.

School teacher Amie said: “The retrieval team take the skills of the paediatric intensive care unit on the road and knowing that these specialists were incredibly skilled gave us so much peace knowing that Jackson was being well looked after.

"I just want to say a massive thank you for how they made me feel on the day. We felt incredibly well supported and cared for.”

 “I am pleased to say he is a very happy and charismatic cheeky wee boy. He has been through more in his little life that some people encounter in a lifetime. He is strong, resilient and a fighter we are beyond proud of.”

Michael Dickson, Scottish Ambulance Service Chief Executive said: “ScotSTAR is an integral part of Scottish Ambulance Service and is critical to our ability to reach every part of Scotland.

"I’m delighted to be marking its 10th anniversary and I’d like to stay a big thank you to our staff who deliver this vital service for critically ill patients across Scotland, often in very challenging circumstances. They are all a credit to the Scottish Ambulance Service.”