During the morning of August bank holiday Monday, you may have noticed, or heard, London’s Air Ambulance in attendance at Paddington Recreation Ground. Landing just next door to Morshead Mansions, the team were responding to an incident close to the park. The bright red helicopter was in the park for just over an hour, before lifting off again to return to its base.
A familiar sight in the London skies, many people may not know that the Air Ambulance relies on public support for 94% of its annual funding. The yearly cost of running this service is around £15,000,000, with the majority coming from donations and the National Lottery.
London’s Air Ambulance was established in 1989, in response to a report by The Royal College of Surgeons, which documented unnecessary deaths from trauma and criticised the care that seriously injured patients received in the UK. Before this service existed, patients that may otherwise have been saved were dying because of the delay in receiving prompt and appropriate medical care.
Aside from the recurring costs, London’s Air Ambulance service recently faced the challenge of replacing the two helicopters it uses as they were near the end of their lifespan. This meant raising an additional £15 million over two years, a feat that they were ultimately able to achieve. As of today, London’s Air Ambulance now operates two state of the art Airbus H135 helicopters, selected for their suitability in built up urban environments.
A quote from their website states ‘We aim to save lives and achieve the best possible outcomes for our patients and their families, bringing hope through our specialist clinical care. With our future secured, we will continue to push the boundaries of pre-hospital care to make sure we are delivering a world-leading service for London for the years to come.’
If you’d like to find out more, or perhaps donate to the ongoing costs, please click here to visit London’s Air Ambulance website.
