The first NHS air ambulance due to fly over Oxfordshire has been branded a 'luxury' that could cost the health service £1m to man.

Company sponsorship to pay for the helicopter and fuel - the price of 20 ambulances and crew - is on the brink of being agreed.

But members of the ambulance trust board, monitoring the project, believe it is likely to cost the NHS £1m over three years in extra staff needed for it. Ambulance staff have privately expressed doubts about the helicopter that will cover the Thames Valley, possibly sponsored by the Automobile Association (AA) which proclaims it is the 'Fourth Emergency Service'.

John Nichols, chief executive of Oxfordshire Ambulance Service, said in a confidential report to his trust board: "Money used to get one helicopter in the air for 50 hours a month would provide around 20 additional land ambulances and crews, each for 160 hours a month." He told them that there "remains no guarantee" a sponsor, while paying for the helicopter and 50 hours flying a month - two hours a day - would pledge its support for more than three years.

Nor would it fund extra paramedics and other associated costs, which would need to be financed by the NHS.

Mr Nichols said: "From the NHS perspective it would be difficult to justify the NHS paying for a helicopter.

"We need to make sure the interests of the NHS are looked after, and there is no way the NHS picks up a multi-million pound problem because it suddenly has a fleet of helicopters to fly. "In my view it is not a justifiable cost."

The ambulance service is able to borrow Thames Valley Police's helicopter in emergencies, but due to the size of Oxfordshire Mr Nichols admitted his crews needed it "very little in 999 situations".

Mr Nichols said the helicopter, shared between Oxfordshire, Berkshire and possibly Buckinghamshire, would ferry patients to and from hospitals and be used in rare rural emergencies inaccessible to road ambulances.

An announcement on the sponsorship deal for it is due within the next fortnight. If it is agreed the helicopter is likely to be flying by the Autumn. John Power, non-executive director of the Oxfordshire Ambulance Service Trust, said a sponsor would pay for the initial cost of the helicopter, but gradually contribute less towards its upkeep.

He said the burden of paying for around ten qualified paramedics, and keeping extra ground crews and support staff will cost £200,000 a year - rising to £500,000 a year, out of an annual total service budget of £8m. He said: "It is a luxury we cannot afford. We know from other ambulance services the kind of labour force you need for it. If you have got it, you always need crews to go on it, so there are less crews for the other services. So you need more people immediately."

A spokesman for the AA said of a possible deal: "It is something we have been considering over the last few years. We are looking at a number of sponsorship opportunities and nothing has been decided yet."

Story date: Friday 09 April

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