By Sophie Robinson
The London Air Ambulance service is a charity which mainly runs on people’s donations. Before the 29th of April, I was unaware of the situation this charity was in – they currently have two helicopters to service London, with a population estimated at 9,648,000. However, the two helicopters they have are very old and so need replacing – otherwise by the end of 2024 the London Air Ambulance would have no function. The charity wishes to raise £15 million in order to bring two new helicopters into service and maintain them for five years. The charity needs to have 700,000 – 800,000 people joining the campaign and donating to help continue this much needed service. According to the Richmond & Twickenham Times, 89% of the charity’s funding relies on public donations. The rest comes from NHS partners, however the Air Ambulance is not part of the NHS.
The Air Ambulance was founded in 1989, when it completed its first mission. In 1993, the world’s first successful road-side open heart surgery was completed – thanks to the London Air Ambulance. In 1999, the air ambulance service expanded into night-time operations, and gained its first rapid response car. In 2010, 24/7 operations began, and in 2011, the helipad base was moved to the top of The Royal London Hospital. 2012 saw the first UK air ambulance to carry blood for on-scene blood transfusions. 2014 saw the first prehospital Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta, and in 2016 a second helicopter was introduced, allowing 400 more patients to be reached a year. In 2020, Prince William became the patron and in 2021, the additional team of Medic 3 was launched meaning two missions can be attended to at the same time. In 2024, they hope to replace their helicopter fleet.
On the 29th of April, a fundraiser for this charity knocked on my door, and I took this opportunity to interview him. He told me about the ‘Up Against Time Appeal’ which they are running, and explained how they need to gain as many supporters as possible in order to keep this service running. He also handed me a booklet, which contains a ‘Mission Map’ – this outlines all the casualties they attended to in 2022, and what each casualty was due to. A total of 1,977 patients were helped by the Air Ambulance, with 34% (659) of these incidents being due to penetrating trauma. In Ealing, a total of 63 incidents were attended to.
The Patron of this charity is Prince William, who was in fact an Air Ambulance pilot in the army. He describes how ‘flying by helicopter is absolutely crucial’ in order to give people emergency treatment. Therefore, it is so important to help this charity which is so crucial to London. To read about the charity and what they do, you can click this link, and if you want to donate, you can click here. Remember, of course, to check with your parents – and encourage friends and family to donate too!
Here is a pie chart showing the percentages of casualties that were attended to in 2022:
