Ambulance transport services merger bid approved PLANS for a world-class service to transport critically ill patients have been approved by ambulance chiefs. A proposal to merge ambulance transport services for critically ill patients has been approved Services provided by Scottish Neonatal Service, Emergency Medical Retrieval Service and another service to be merged into single Scotstar provision The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) wants to integrate three specialist services into one. It is hoped the move will improve care for those who are seriously ill. The SAS would co-ordinate the new service, to be called ScotStar. It has submitted its business case for the project, predicted to cost £9.3 million a year, to the Scottish Government. It could be up and running by next April, with its main base at the new air ambulance centre at Glasgow Airport. Other bases with clinical teams would be at key points around the country. There are about 2,200 cases a year in which medical teams manage the care of patients being transported by ambulance, including in the air. At the moment doctors and other medical professionals in the Scottish Neonatal Service help transport sick babies, usually taking them from one hospital to another for treatment. Another service does a similar job for young children. Clinicians in the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service help transfer seriously ill patients between hospitals but also respond to emergency calls to help transport critically injured people. Pauline Howie, SAS chief executive, said: "The ScotStar proposal is the result of a detailed review of all of the specialist transport and retrieval services. It will deliver more flexible and responsive care for critically ill patients across all of Scotland as a genuinely world class service. A centralised and co-ordinated approach will create opportunities for greater shared working, training and education of staff and bring efficiencies and consistency to the way in which some of the most critically ill patients are transported.