Air ambulance charities highlight importance during UK Air Ambulance Week

Air Ambulance Week will start on 5 September. The need for their services has surged post Covid with the number of missions rising.

Air Ambulances UK supports the UK’s 21 air ambulance charities, which receive no day-to-day government funding and depend almost entirely on charitable donations to deliver their lifesaving care. They form part of the regional 999 emergency services, but are separate entities.

Simmy Akhtar, Air Ambulances UK’s CEO, said: “They work side-by-side with the NHS to provide specialist and critical life-saving care, a vital emergency service that is not part of the NHS or in receipt of day-to-day government funding.

“As charities that almost completely rely on donations, we are forever grateful to all supporters who keep critical care teams flying across the UK.”

Stewart McMorran, Air Ambulance Doctor and NHS Consultant at Musgrove Park Hospital Taunton, added: “Emergency care administered by our air ambulance medics teams saves lives. Our rapid response and ability to turn the scene into an emergency department means we improve patient outcomes.

“We are often treating people in adverse weather conditions, in the dark, and because of the nature of critical emergency medicine, we are always fighting against time. Our pilots are also highly skilled and make rapid decisions to get our medical teams as close to the scene as humanly possible.”