Where Reaching Emergency Care Means Taking a Flight

Emergency air transfer services in the Channel Islands are playing a crucial role in ensuring patients can access specialist medical care not available locally.

With populations of around 65,000 in Guernsey and 105,000 in Jersey, island hospitals face limits on the range of treatments they can provide. As a result, patients with serious or complex conditions are regularly flown to NHS hospitals in the UK.

The Jersey Emergency Transfer Service operates a dedicated aircraft to transport patients in urgent need of care, carrying out more than 300 transfers last year. The service can handle cases ranging from routine stretcher transfers to intensive care patients requiring ventilation, as well as newborns in incubators and psychiatric patients.

Guernsey runs a parallel system, with staff coordinating patient travel, accommodation and onward care. Managers say their teams support patients at what is often one of the most difficult times in their lives, helping them navigate travel, treatment and discharge.

Most Channel Islands patients are treated in Southampton or London, though others are referred to specialist centres across England. Weather-related flight disruptions remain a challenge, occasionally delaying transfers or returns home.

Each year, thousands of islanders travel to the UK for planned treatments, including cancer care. Patients and clinicians alike say the close working relationship between Channel Islands health services and UK hospitals is vital in ensuring island residents receive timely and effective treatment.