The service uses a range of aircraft to reach patients in remote areas of the country The flying doctor service has been extended to cover rural areas across the whole of Scotland.
The Emergency Medical Retrieval Service (EMRS) originally operated in the Hebrides and down the west coast.
It has now increased to two teams, with the number of doctors rising from eight to 15, and will cost £2m a year to run.
Consultants and mobile lifesaving equipment can fly to patients who are critically ill in the small hospitals of Scotland’s islands and remote areas.
The service uses private and Royal Navy helicopters as well as aircraft which fly from Glasgow.
In the two years since its launch it has dealt with hundreds of cases at rural general hospitals, community hospitals and at remote GP practices.
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