Response time climb down a win for islanders

Plans to quadruple response times of coastguard helicopters operating from Sumburgh have been ditched – in a move described as a “win for islanders, by islanders”.

It follows a parliamentary debate into the future of coastguard helicopter services.

In 2023 the coastguard service proposed extending response times from 15 minutes in daytime hours to 45 minutes at night.

The proposals were widely condemned. The previous government committed to a review in November 2023.

And today, MPs were told the current readiness state for coastguard helicopters would remain.

Isles MP Alistair Carmichael said: “This is exceptionally welcome news. It will be a breath of relief for everyone who works and travels at sea around the Northern Isles and indeed across the UK.

“Fundamentally it is a win for islanders, by islanders. If it had not been for the actions of whistleblowers and local journalists to bring these plans to light as early as they did, we might have been faced with a ‘done deal’ and no way to reverse it.”

During the debate Mr Carmichael said search and rescue helicopters were used as air ambulances twice as much in 2024 than in 2020.

Over the course of last year, the SAR helicopter was called upon 53 times to assist in transporting patients to hospital.

This was more than twice as much as it had been in 2020 (25).

If this was to continue, the Liberal Democrat feared that there may come a time when the duties of the helicopter crew would “simply not be met”.

The isles MP also raised concerns about visits to the Sumburgh base, where he had previously enjoyed engaging meetings with crew. 

However, he said “it was not oblivious to me” that his latest visit was had been “managed” by higher-ups from south.

“I was quite confident that Shetland being Shetland, that I would hear of any concerns by some other means,” Mr Carmichael said.

He had also heard of issues with the service from “around the coastline” from other stations, including a lack of training.

One winchman had only five training sessions before going out on an operation.

Mr Carmichael added: “It used to be that people would have twice that amount and further on-the-job training with supervision.”

logo

Get Latest News in Your Inbox

Join the The Shetland Times mailing list to get one daily email update at midday on what's happening in Shetland.