Should we need insurance to cover rescue costs and recompression?

[Hyperbaric]

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Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]I don't think even Aberdeen, the rabbit warren that it is, deals with NHS medical patients.

The arrangement at Aberdeen is like this:

The National Hyperbaric Centre (NHC) is owned by Stolt Offshore. They are a commercial company who provide services such as hyperbaric welding testing. They are also used by commercial diving operators as a 'stand-by' recompression facility.

The NHC rent the land that they use from Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust (GUHT). One of the chambers within the NHC building is owned by GUHT's Hyperbaric Medicine Unit (HMU). This is physically linked to the NHC's chamber system and NHC technicians maintain and operate the chamber for the HMU. The University of Aberdeen also has an active role in using the chamber for research, etc. There is also a stand-alone hyper / hypobaric chamber used for research.

The HMU are primarily funded by the National Services Division (NSD) of NHS Scotland to provide emergency treatment to recreational divers. However, they also treat CO poisoning and other emergencies. In addition, elective treatments are carried out Mon - Fri. These are patients with wounds, etc, that research shows will benefit from hyperbaric oxygen therapy (therefore, not MS).

All patients treated at the HMU are NHS patients, whether divers or not.

So, the HMU is part of GUHT, funded by NSD and works closely with NHC, but is not a part of it.

Treatments are co-ordinated by the on-call hyperbaric consultant based in the HMU at Aberdeen, who also provide the 24hr advice line. The NSD also fund the National Registration Service, which inspects and audits all chambers in Scotland which treat recreational divers on behalf of the NHS. All NHS divers in Scotland should be treated at one of the chambers approved by the NRS.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]There is, so I'm lead to believe, one of the single person jobs at the Western in Glasgow. They don't put bent divers in these though in case the diver needs a Doc in.

AFAIK, there is no longer a working NHS hyperbaric facility in Glasgow.

[Stephen H]

The pot at the Western in Glasgow (if it still exists) hasn't been treating divers for at least 15 years AFAIK.

[Mr T.]

*bump*