Report : Europe Air Ambulance Services Market to 2027 - Regional Analysis and Forecasts by Type (Rotary Wing and Fixed Wing); Service Model (Hospital Based, Government Run, and Independent); End User (Domestic and International); and Country
The European healthcare and medical sector are throttling with the advancements in medical technologies. Along with the healthcare centres, the associated service providers are also inducting advanced technologies to offer better services to their customers/clients. In Europe, air ambulance services are on the rise with an objective to treat the patient at source as well as during flight, using space-enabled technologies, which has increased availing of these services among population. This factor is expected to significantly contribute to the growth of the air ambulance services market in Europe.
The UK based air ambulance service provider, Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex, has collaborated with European Space Agency (ESA) in 2019, aiming towards the development and integration of space-enabled technology on its entire fleet. This technology would enable the paramedics to stream patient medical information, including body temperature, electrocardiogram, heart rhythm, blood pressure, pulse rate, and respiration rate through a satellite network or mobile phone network from the air ambulance to the hospitals. The network acts as a two-way link, which facilitates an easy decision-making ability to paramedics. This technology also enables seamless electronic patient care reporting as the patient leaves the air ambulance and enters the hospital. With the rise in adoption of this technology among other service providers in Europe, the air ambulance services market in the region would witness a strong growth over the years.
According to a survey conducted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Center for Injury Sciences, the accessibility of helicopter air ambulance service differs extensively across European countries. These vary in terms of both geographic as well as population coverage. As per the survey, least prosperous countries such as Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Malta had no dedicated helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS). On the other hand, Luxembourg had the maximum number of helicopters by area and population, both for day and night services. Also, in total, 24 countries had HEMS, varying from one dedicated helicopter in Ireland to 89 in Germany.
The study further concluded that Alpine countries inclined to have high daytime HEMS availability, and Scandinavian nations had good night-time coverage. Maximum helicopters carried a doctor, while certain had only nurses or paramedics. Also, the search and rescue helicopters in Norway play an essential role in patient treatment.
Rise in the number of healthcare infrastructure, including hospitals and medical centres, is considered to be a crucial factor fuelling the air ambulance services market growth, owing to the fact that the familiarity of advantages associated with medevac is growing among European hospital authorities.
The offering air ambulance services to various types of patients would help hospital authorities to earn ancillary revenues, which would facilitate the hospitals to invest in the further enhancements in their respective facilities. Thus, the growth in remodeling or expansion of hospital infrastructure and the rise in hospital construction activities is foreseen to drive the hospital-based air ambulance services market in Europe in the coming years.