Air Ambulance flies its 40,000th mission

Serving Leicestershire and Warwickshire, the local air ambulance has achieved the milestone of flying its 40,000th mission.

Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance and Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance provide a critical care response, and work alongside East Midlands and West Midlands Ambulance Services.

The service operates 24/7, 365 days a year with all missions being funded by public donations.

Based at Coventry Airport and East Midlands Airport respectively, they carry critical care paramedics and doctors who are able to perform surgical procedures.

Clinical Lead for The Air Ambulance Service, Dr Matthew Wyse, said: “On 40,000 occasions, the clinical teams have been called out in the air ambulance helicopters or one of our critical care cars to go to the aid of someone who may need us.

“Since my first mission, the response of the public to us has been fantastic; ‘blimey you were quick’ has been one of the consistent comments and reflects the fact that when you or someone you know has been hurt or taken ill, receiving a rapid response is so important.

“Not every one of those 40,000 calls resulted in lifesaving interventions by the team, sometimes thankfully the patient is not as serious as first thought, sometimes the team can provide assistance, reassurance and simple help to the patient, sometimes just a rescue flight from a remote hard to reach location is the most important intervention we deliver.”

Director of Operations, Richard Clayton, added:  “As we have completed our monumental milestone of 40,000 missions I’m reminded of the countless people that have contributed in so many different ways to our services.

“We simply couldn’t have achieved our mission over the past 17 years without our fantastic volunteers, supporters, charity team and NHS partners. Most of all I want to thank my critical care clinicians, pilots and support team members for their significant contribution to our communities and patient care.”

Funded by public donations, with each mission costing an average of £1,700, the charity says their incredibly proud to have flown their 40,000th mission.

The Air Ambulance Service CEO, Andy Williamson reflects on what this means to the charity: “It is incredible to think about reaching the 40,000 mission milestone, and gives us all an enormous sense of pride because of the difference we have been making to people’s lives.

“When we talk about 40,000 missions, it is people and their extended families that have been positively affected by our lifesaving work. It has meant children still have parents, wives and husbands still had each other and those parents still have their children. It has meant young people have grown up when they might not have done, it has meant people celebrating their own milestone birthdays and anniversaries which might never have happened and it has meant saving the NHS tens of millions of pounds by providing all our services for free.

“All of this is achieved because of the dedication and commitment, the pride and the passion of everyone involved in our air ambulance service. We do what charities are meant to do, make an impact and benefit society – we save lives and long may we continue doing so.”