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The RN have disclosed its Scottish helicopters search and rescue unit has had its busiest year since records began. The crew based at HMS Gannet in Prestwick answered to 447 call outs in 2009 – thrashing their prior high of 382. The unit saved 378 folks, including a 16-year-old girl who slipped off her bike and dropped into a stream, and an OAP whose vehicle was engulfed during flooding. The team, that has received multiple honours, led a stricken Cessna pilot to safety in another incident.

HMS Gannet is one of 8 army search and rescue bases round the UK and covers an area of almost 98,000 square miles. Plans to move the search and rescue operation thirty miles to Glasgow airfield appeared last month.

Soteria Consortium, a personal company named by the Ministry of Defence as the preferred bidder to supply the UK’s rescue copters, wants to shift the base for commercial reasons. Commanding Officer Lieutenant Chief Debdash Bhattacharya honored the “phenomenal effort” of his crew.

He revealed : “This is an incredible accomplishment. I’m enormously pleased with each individual who is part of the close team at HMS Gannet. “From the air crew to the engineers, weather forecasters, office staff, ground crews and support staff, totally everybody plays their part in guaranteeing that there’s a search and rescue copter prepared to retort twenty-four hours per day to whatever the call could be.

It is an outstanding sustained effort directed at supporting the people of Scotland, Northerly Eire and northwards England”. Lieutenant Chief Martin Ford, 46, has attended six hundred call-outs in his 7 years with the unit.

The officer, who is living in Cornwall, was given an Air Force Cross for his part in the rescue mission following the Boscastle floods in 2004 and the Queen’s Commendation for Bravado in the Air after helping a threatening rescue on Ben Nevis. Petty Officer Marcus Wigfull, 38, who resides in Troon, has racked up seven hundred call-outs in his 13-year career and received the same honour after winching 3 folk to safety from a stricken yacht in Ayrshire.

Local congressmen have reacted angrily to the suggested move from HMS Gannet. The agreement with Soteria is expected to be finalised over the following few months and the new service phased in from 2012. The consortium is made from Thales UK, the Royal Bank of Scotland and chopper operator CHC.

The MoD asserted it had made clear in its bid that it would move the search and rescue service to Glasgow. But a spokesperson declared no roles would be lost and that HMS Gannet, as a Royal Naval air station, had a broader army role.

John Scott, Conservative MSP for Ayr, described it as a “bombshell” for the area and local Labour MP Brian Donohoe said that he was “speechless” at the choice.

The recent development with respect to swine flu suggests that “outbreak management phase” has given way to treatment phase as the government has announced that it cannot contain the virus any longer. This, however, does not mean that the virus has taken a more deadly form or there is any increased threat, but only that there has been a significant increase in the number of cases and the government has resorted to a different strategy.

The proposed phase would mean an end to the task of tracing people with flu and subsequent use of anti-virals to contain spread. However, anti-virals will still be available to people in need but on the discretion of health experts, which in turn would decide whether a particular case actually needs anti-virals. Further, there will be a periodical surveillance similar to the reporting for seasonal flu that is in place presently.

According to Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish Health Secretary, the increase in number of swine flu cases across the UK was expected. She also said that in wake of the increased number of cases and the fact that there is possibility for community transmission, it is prudent to make a shift to the treatment phase from the current phase. It is also notable that Scotland was the first to witness swine flu in the UK. Click on Health and Safety News to keep up-to-date on the latest developments and for a complete guide to IOSH and NEBOSH training for all you need to know about the main concepts and law associated with Health and Safety.

The health secretary for England, Andy Burnham added that since the cases of swine flu were increasing at a rate of 100% every week, which would mean around 100, 000 cases each day by the end of August, the focus would now be on treatment of the flu instead of trying to contain the virus. He also pointed out that the government knew that it could not control the virus indefinitely and that there would be need for resorting to treatment of the flu at some point of time.