London's Air Ambulance Turns To City For Funding

BethPH
By BethPH Last edited 131 months ago
London's Air Ambulance Turns To City For Funding

London's solitary air ambulance could gain a companion if plans to seek funding from the City are successful.

Unlike our urban counterparts, Paris, New York and Sydney who have at least four air ambulances each, we rely on just one. London's Air Ambulance chief executive Graham Hodgkin aims to get funding for a second helicopter — the existing one currently spends up to six weeks per year undergoing maintenance. In the Financial Times, Hodgkin said:

“London is a city that can have up to 11m people in it at any time. Instinctively it feels vulnerable to have only one aircraft to do what we do.”

We posted about London Air Ambulance's new chopper earlier this year along with some key facts about the service:

  • The helicopter is not for transporting passengers – it’s a rapid response unit that delivers an advanced trauma doctor and paramedic to a patient’s side within minutes of their accident — demonstrated just yesterday when the helicopter landed on Waterloo Bridge after a man fell from a building.
  • Trauma is the commonest cause of death for people age <45 including children, causing more lost years than cancer and cardiac arrest.
  • The service is a charity and relies heavily on donations. It is not government funded and is only part-funded by the NHS.

To support London's Air Ambulance, you can donate here and buy things from the shop here.

Photo by JakeSaunders1 in the Londonist Flickr pool.

Last Updated 04 April 2013