London’s Air Ambulance has received a ‘Life Saver’ award from Word 4 Weapons, recognising the work the charity does responding to and treating casualties of gun and knife crime in the Capital.

So far this year (1 January to 30 September), we have treated 1,303 patients, of these 328 were either stabbed or shot. 

Executive Chairman, Carl Palmer found himself at a dizzying height on a helipad above the seventeenth floor of The Royal London Hospital as he marked the launch of a fundraising partnership between the London’s Air Ambulance Charity and CIS Security.  The company, which holds professional security services contracts for many high profile buildings dotted around the city, is planning a schedule of activities, culminating in Palmer venturing on the Clipper around-the-world sailing race.

Charity Times has recognised London’s Air Ambulance Chief Executive, Graham Hodgkin, as the winner of this year’s 2014 Rising CEO Star award.

A former Managing Director at Deutsche Bank, Graham Hodgkin was appointed in November 2012 and has lead the charity through its recent stages of growth and development. 

For 25 years London's Air Ambulance has been at the forefront of emergency pre-hospital medicine, gaining a reputation for clinical excellence and pioneering procedures which have been adopted across the world.

We have achieved survival figures for traumatic cardiac arrest and pre-hospital thoracotomy, and success rates for adult and paediatric intubation, which are among the highest in the world.

Hundreds of people put their ‘head in the hole’ and their hand in their pocket in support of London’s Air Ambulance during National Air Ambulance Week.

Appearing at Old Spitalfields Market, The Royal London Hospital, Regents Place and the Old Truman Brewery, the charity team was out in force encouraging people to get on board and join them in saving lives. View our ‘head in the hole’ gallery to see if your photo made it.

After 11 years of pursuing this goal, Dr Kate Crewdson joined London’s Air Ambulance. “I remember standing at the helipad and hearing the aircraft take off for a mission. It was very emotional. I recall thinking : I have done it. I am here,” says Kate. As her secondment at London’s Air Ambulance comes to an end, she reflects on the experience itself as well as the journey that preceded it. “It was definitely a life-long dream coming true. I have learned more in 6 months with London’s Air Ambulance than in 6 years of qualifying as a doctor.”

As National Air Ambulance Week gets underway, London’s Air Ambulance is releasing incident figures from 1st January to 31st August 2014 to enhance public understanding of the service we provide for London.

So far this year, we have treated 1,144 patients.  Incident types were as follows:

•354 road traffic collisions; of which 133 were pedestrians hit by vehicles; 78 were motorcyclists; and 45 were pedal cyclists 

Having chosen London’s Air Ambulance and Midlands Air Ambulance as their charities of the year, staff at Phoenix Group have embraced many fundraising challenges in 2014 to raise money for both charities, including a  sky dive, a hike, an abseil, a cycle and a cake sale, all in only 6 months.  A recent visit to the London’s Air Ambulance helipad marked the half-way point of the charity partnership. So far, Phoenix Group staff have raised over £43,000 with fundraising activities continuing until April 2015. 

The annual Golf Challenge at the prestigious Foxhills Club & Resort in Surrey raised over £5,000 this September. 

"It was a great day when all participants enjoyed the excellent weather, the manicured Bernard Hunt Golf Course and the first-rate facilities provide at Foxhills, " said the event organiser Brian Donnachie. 

"The sponsors of the day were Santander together with Power Horse Energy Drink who have both supported the event in the past." 

How does his military past, be it deployment in Afghanistan, a managerial post in NATO Baghdad or as Head of Operations for the Army’s Training and Recruiting Division translate into his role at London’s Air Ambulance? We spoke to Colonel Charles Newitt, the first Chief Operating Officer appointed by the charity.

“In many of the senior roles in the Army there is an immense amount of synergy of skills between the two organisations, although at first glance it may not appear so."