4 Sep 2023
This week, during 4-10 September, Air Ambulance Week 2023 will be celebrated across the UK to raise awareness that air ambulances are only there for the critically injured thanks to public donations.
All UK air ambulances are charities: relying on fundraising to deliver their life-saving pre-hospital care to the roadside. On average, London’s Air Ambulance attends to five critically injured people in the city every day.
It costs approximately £10 million every year to deliver London’s Air Ambulance Charity’s service and 96 per cent of this comes from public support. This year, we need London more than ever: we need to raise an additional £15 million to replace our helicopters before they reach the end of their lifespan in autumn 2024.
This Air Ambulance Week – organised by Air Ambulances UK – we want to share the message that we cannot save lives without you. In the first six months of 2023, London’s Air Ambulance alone has attended to 1,007 patients. On average, this involved administering over 26 emergency anaesthesias, 18 code reds, 14 blood transfusions and three thoracotomies at the roadside each month, when an individual didn’t have time to make it to hospital. Our crews are the only people in London who can administer some of these life-saving procedures at scene. But we are a charity and can only be here for London 24/7, 365 days a year, because of people like you.
During Air Ambulance Week, the air ambulance charities will be lighting up buildings across the country to help raise awareness. Please share any images you may spot and help tell others about what we do and that we need your support. We can’t save lives without you.