3 Apr 2020
Thanks to your help, London's Air Ambulance service remains operational, and we are still here for the 10 million people living and working in London who might need us at any moment. Here is a message from our Medical Director, Dr Tom Hurst, with our latest updates.
I’m writing this as the nation gets used to government guidance to stay at home, leaving only for essentials or exercise. It’s a circumstance that many of us couldn’t have imagined a matter of weeks ago, yet now it’s the new ‘normal’.
During this time, like many of you, I have been adapting my ways of living and working and I have been kept busy. The charity team and crew have been working together to manage the impact of coronavirus on our service and I want to reassure you that London’s Air Ambulance is still fully operational. As this situation unfolds, we will do everything in our power to keep it that way, while also supporting our staff who are focussed on Covid-19 in other roles. We want to make sure our crews can continue to be there for the 10 million people living and working in London who might need us at any moment.
I want you to know that we are thinking of you, our supporters, during these testing times. We want to say a huge thank you for everything you do for us - your generosity plays a huge part in keeping us going. We are also thinking of our patients in recovery and their families – your strength continues to inspire us. And we’re thinking of those we may need to help in the future.
We are thinking of our partners and colleagues at Barts Health NHS Trust and the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Both organisations still count on us to deliver major trauma expertise to the scene of incidents, and our Physician Response Unit (PRU) is helping to reduce ambulance demands and A&E attendances. The PRU is also allowing early discharge of hospital patients back to the community where we can do Dr follow up visits – releasing beds in hospitals. We are still going ahead with the launch of the second PRU car this month, which will provide coverage from 8am to 11pm every day of the week.
It’s vital that as individuals we continue to do all we can to support the NHS during these exceptional circumstances. Thank you all for staying at home, for helping each other and those in need and for having compassion and appreciation for our key workers.
We simply couldn’t do any of this without you – thank you again for supporting our service.
We wish you all good health and strength. - Dr Tom Hurst
