Midlands Air Ambulance Charity extends operational hours

The charity has changed its operational hours so that its vital lifesaving car will now run until 2am, allowing the team to attend a greater number of critical emergencies. In the first month of operation, the advanced clinical team has responded to almost 30 medical and traumatic incidents between the extended operating hours of 8pm and 2am.

Seven of these call outs were to serious incidents, demonstrating the direct need for the expertise of Midlands Air Ambulance Charity’s two critical care paramedics onboard. The car was dispatched to a variety of incident types including road traffic collisions, accidental injuries, assaults, and medical conditions.

Ian Jones, Clinical Operations Director for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, said: “We are committed to continuous improvement and delivering advanced patient care, which is why we constantly review patient data to ensure we provide the very best care to those who need it. When the research demonstrated that patients across Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire would potentially benefit from our expertise outside of our current operational hours, we knew we needed to adapt.”

Aiming to give patients the best chance of survival

The critical care cars carry the same advanced lifesaving equipment as the helicopters, such as hospital grade ventilators and a mechanical CPR machine known as the Lucas device, and advanced analgesic and sedative drugs not carried on NHS ambulances.

Ian continued: “The way our clinical team provides patient care continually evolves. Thirty years ago, when we were first founded, our aim was to take the patient to the most appropriate hospital as swiftly as possible with timely interventions to preserve life. Fast forward to today and we aim to bring critical care rapidly to the patient, giving them the best possible chance of survival and good recovery before we leave the incident scene.

“We can deliver this exceptional care via helicopter or critical care car, and we are proud to extend our availability into the night, which is already proving to be an effective service within the southern counties we cover.”