Air Ambulance KSS team receive vaccinations

Thanks to the rapid response from the team at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) and Medway NHS Foundation Trust, KSS has been able to secure vaccinations for its frontline team members. KSS has said it is ‘extremely grateful for this great example of charity and NHS working in partnership in support of each other and its communities’.

KSS is confident that it can continue to provide world-class pre-hospital emergency care for the sickest and most critically injured patients across the South East 24/7, using its helicopters and rapid response vehicles.

Working with the NHS and SECAmb

KSS continues to work in partnership with the wider NHS and SECAmb to assist with the transfer of patients requiring critical care between Intensive Care Units (ICUs) across the region. Where possible and when required, due to the extraordinary pressures facing ICUs in the South East, this includes the transfer of critically ill Covid-19 patients. To support this activity, KSS has stood up an additional crew and dedicated specialist on call support.

Dr Duncan Bootland, KSS Medical Director, said: “Inter-hospital transfers for critically ill patients are highly complex, requiring the high level skills of clinicians with experience of both critical care and the delivery of care outside of hospitals. KSS crews, which include a specialist pre-hospital emergency medicine doctor and paramedic, have both these skill sets, meaning this is a further area in which we are able to support the Covid-19 pandemic effort.

“As we have learned more about Covid-19 over the last year, the specific challenges in managing patients with this disease have become apparent, which further highlights the importance of the high level skills our clinicians can bring to these patients.”

Serving the communities throughout pandemic

David Welch, KSS CEO, added: “I am incredibly proud of how Team KSS continues to face the multiple challenges presented by Covid-19 with determination, courage and a resilience to ensure we continue to serve the communities of Kent, Surrey and Sussex. My heartfelt thanks to everyone who has worked so tirelessly to enable our 24/7 service to operate without interruption throughout.

“KSS is doing all we can to support our patients and communities and to save lives. Having demonstrated dedication, resilience and agility in 2020, we are more committed than ever to meet the challenges that 2021 will bring and continue to save lives and ensure the best possible patient outcomes.”

In September, the ambulance won Charity Times’ Charity of the Year Award (income over £10 million) during Air Ambulance Week.