29 Oct 2026
London’s Air Ambulance Charity was born from innovation. In 1986, a group of visionary medics refused to accept the number of people who were dying on the way to hospital following traumatic injury. They believed critically injured people deserved the best possible chance of survival, wherever they were in London.
In pioneering the doctor-on-board model, London’s Air Ambulance Charity was born, focused on bringing the hospital to the patient and delivering complex medical care at the roadside.
That innovation has saved thousands of lives and over the years, our service has continued to push the boundaries of what is possible, enhance the capabilities of pre-hospital care and affect air ambulance protocol across the UK and globe.
One of our key values is ‘pioneering’, which is reflected in our commitment to embrace and lead change through innovation, and has resulted in numerous firsts to our name.
In 1993, our medics performed the world’s first successful open chest surgery on the roadside. This pioneering procedure challenged the guidelines on resuscitation and to this day, we’re the only ones in London who can perform open chest surgery on scene. During 2025, we performed on average two a month; doing the upmost to secure our patients the best possible outcomes.
In 2012, we made history by becoming the first air ambulance in the UK to carry blood on board. This enabled the crew to transfuse blood at the scene of the incident – a potentially life-saving treatment for patients suffering catastrophic bleeding. The impact of this pre-hospital development is not to be underestimated: throughout 2025 we provided 236 on-scene blood transfusions, without which many of our patients would not have survived.
Our innovations are not limited to medical procedures. In 2014, we appointed the very first Patient Liaison Nurse: a specific position focused on assisting our patients with the transition back to independent living, bridging the gap between the pre-hospital treatment that we provide and the patient’s long-term recovery. This is now seen as a vital role in all UK air ambulances, with structured patient follow-up processes in place across the country.
In 2014 we also performed the world’s first pre-hospital REBOA – a balloon surgery used to help control internal bleeding, which is a frequent consequence of road traffic accidents and falls from height. And in May 2025 we brought ECMO – a heart and lung bypass machine which can be the only chance of survival for people in cardiac arrest – to the streets for the first time ever in the UK.
These are just a few of the innovations we have developed since our inception, if you’d like to read more, please visit our history timeline.
Innovation is in our DNA and we’re not stopping here. It’s the centre point of our Hope Across London strategy and it continues to drive our medics to be world-leading in all that they do.
Trauma doesn’t stop. With your support, neither do we.