5 Nov 2026
Our history is full of innovation, but it’s not just in our past. We’re constantly learning, both from successes and from disappointments, to ensure we’re always striving to improve and develop. We’re not standing still.
One way in which we continue to innovate is by sharing our learnings with other medical departments. For example, the REBOA procedure – which we administered roadside for the first time in the world – has since been adopted for use on the battlefield by the US military.
Leading consultants from around the world join our team on secondments, learning from our expert crew and witnessing how our medics respond to the trauma we see in London. They take the world-renowned skills they learn back to their own hospitals, spreading the knowledge we’ve instilled in them across the world. Our own doctors also complete various research studies and trials, they’ve published and contributed to over 1,120 esteemed articles in the field of pre-hospital medicine.
Alongside this, we’re always sharing our findings with the wider emergency sector through our Institute of Pre-Hospital Care. The institute arm of our charity organises courses, conferences and symposiums to influence best pre-hospital practice across the UK and beyond. It’s focused on delivering the next generation of pre-hospital critical care and educating the future’s medical innovators. Training is an essential part of that process and a necessary element to enable innovation.
It is critical that we continue to practice and develop the advanced skills and experience required to deliver the gold standard of care to our patients, whether that’s in a London underground station, a dark alley in bad weather conditions or during a mass casualty terror attack. We drive innovation in pre-hospital care through these regular training sessions, running moulages and role plays on every shift in between missions.
The Institute also delivers clinical training courses for the service and our partner agencies, as well as co-convening BSc and MSc degrees in Pre-Hospital Medicine. These clinical training and degree programmes are designed to share our unique knowledge and expertise and inform the future of pre-hospital care.
The Institute also runs the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) Training Course (known as ‘HTC’) which is a five-day course for new clinicians joining London’s Air Ambulance. Throughout all our clinical courses, training manikins and other specific equipment are used to enhance learning experiences and maintain high standards of patient care for years to come. In 2025, over 227 clinicians attended a training session delivered by the Institute.
We’re a charity, but we’re also world-leading in medical innovations. Continuing this into our future is a key focus for our organisation. We’re here for London, today, tomorrow, always.