The EMRS operates as part of ScotSTAR, the Scottish national retrieval service, sharing a bespoke base at Glasgow Airport.

[7] 2004: The EMRS was formed in 2004 when NHS Argyll and Clyde approved a 12-month trial which involved 11 consultants in emergency or intensive care medicine.

[12] 2010: In March 2010, the Scottish Government acknowledged that due to its continuing success, the service would be further enhanced by the addition of a second team, operational from October 2010.

[18] 2014: In June 2014, EMRS teams began to routinely carry a stock of O negative blood to allow transfusion earlier when responding to emergencies.

There are 47 part-time consultants who work with EMRS[24] and a smaller number of registrar or clinical fellow grade doctors.

[25] During staffing pressures in the early COVID-19 pandemic, the service occasionally deployed a Registrar with a Retrieval Practitioner as an operational team.

[26][clarification needed] The EMRS have developed a bespoke app to make their standard operating procedures available to clinicians.

[29] In one study, 59.7% of patients received one of the following interventions; pre-hospital Blood transfusion, Chest drain insertion neuroprotective measures or Emergency ultrasound.