19 Sep 2023
In July 2023, London’s Air Ambulance’s advanced trauma team – which on every shift consists of at least one doctor and one paramedic – attended to 184 critically injured patients in the city. These individuals were so badly injured they did not have time to make it to hospital and therefore required the emergency department bringing to the roadside.
Providing life-saving pre-hospital care for these patients included administering 26 rapid sequence intubations, 12 blood transfusions, nine femoral arterial lines and eight thoracotomies (open chest surgery). Our crew are the only ones who can perform some of these procedures at the scene in London.
We can travel to anywhere within the M25 in under 11 minutes and we serve the capital 24/7, 365 days a year. In July, Merton, Enfield and Brent were the three most visited boroughs.
This month, 40 patients (33 per cent) were taken to The Royal London Hospital, 33 patients (27 per cent) to St Mary’s Hospital, 22 (18 per cent) to King’s College Hospital and 19 (16 per cent) to St George’s Hospital. One patient was flown back to The Royal London Hospital – this is a rare occurrence: in the majority of our cases, our medical team will stabilise the patient on scene so that they can then be taken to the nearest major trauma centre in a land ambulance provided by London Ambulance Service. Our medics will accompany the patient in the land ambulance.
In regard to mechanisms of injury, assault and transport-related injuries both resulted in 40 patients (22 per cent). Falls resulted in 32 patients (17 per cent), accidents 16 patients (nine per cent) and medical injuries 13 (seven per cent). For 43 of our patients (23 per cent), the mechanism of injury was other or unknown.
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?