7 Dec 2021
In October 2021, our advanced trauma teams attended to 157 patients across London.
The most common mechanism of injury was penetrating trauma, for which our team attended 47 patients. Road traffic collisions accounted for 42 patients and falls from height for 28, with 40 occurrences of other mechanisms of injury also taking place during October.
London’s Air Ambulance – via helicopter and rapid response cars – brings the hospital to the scene; delivering urgent, cutting-edge medical care when time is critical. In October 2021, this included 14 blood transfusions, 24 rapid sequence intubations, 26 ultrasounds and 11 femoral arterial lines. The team also had two patients that required REBOA (Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta): a procedure that London’s Air Ambulance pioneered, which involves placing an endovascular balloon in the aorta to control bleeding.
Administering these complex interventions at the roadside gives critically-injured patients a higher chance of survival, when time is of the essence.
In October 2021, Westminster, Hackney, Islington and Wandsworth were the four busiest boroughs. Nearly half of all patients (40 per cent) were taken to The Royal London Hospital, with St. Mary’s, Kings College Hospital and St George’s Hospital each receiving over 10 per cent of our patients.
Every one of these patients and their families have had their lives turned upside down unimaginably. It is because of our amazing supporters that our teams are able to get to patients and administer life-saving treatment. Will you help us be there for more patients next month?
