11 Oct 2023
In August 2023, London’s Air Ambulance’s advanced trauma team attended to 190 patients in London.
Fifty three (28 per cent) of these patients were due to assault, 43 (23 per cent) due to transport-related injuries and 25 (13 per cent) due to falls. Accidents and medical injuries both resulted in 16 patients (eight per cent each) and we also saw 37 patients (19 per cent) due to other or unknown mechanisms of injuries.
These individuals were so critically injured they did not have time to make it to the hospital. Our crew bring the emergency department to the scene, performing procedures only usually found in the hospital. This month, our team performed 16 blood transfusions, 14 rapid sequence intubations, six thoracotomies (open chest surgery) and more at the roadside. We also administered an innovative procedure called REBOA three times in August.
REBOA can be deployed in the pre-hospital phase to stop patients from bleeding to death. It involves passing a catheter through to the main artery in the body and inflating a balloon at the tip of the catheter to prevent internal bleeding. A previous patient of ours, Steve, received REBOA when he was hit by a car at speed. You can read his full story here.
London’s Air Ambulance operates across the city 24/7, 365 days a year. In this month, Ealing was the most visited borough, with Southwark the second most visited, followed by Lambeth and Tower Hamlets. Forty nine of our patients (39 per cent) were taken to The Royal London Hospital after we had stabilised them at scene – they are transported in a land ambulance provided by London Ambulance Service, accompanied by our medics. St Mary’s Hospital received 31 of our patients (24 per cent), King’s College Hospital 24 (19 per cent) and St George’s Hospital 18 (14 per cent).
August saw us attend more patients in comparison to July 2023. If you would like to read that month’s mission report, please do so here.
On average, we attend to five people every day. But we’re a charity and 96 per cent of our funding is reliant on public support. Can you help support our vital service?