Auchi Foyer Exhibition - London's Air Ambulance
Free entry
London's Air Ambulance is a registered charity which runs London's only helicopter emergency medical service, providing life saving care to victims of serious injury throughout London - serving the 10 million people who live, work and commute within the M25.
Based at the Royal London Hospital and founded in 1989, the service is unique in that it operates 24/7, with the helicopter running in daylight hours and rapid response cars taking over at night. The Team, which at all times includes a senior trauma doctor and a specially trained paramedic, attends an average of seven missions every 24 hours.
London's Air Ambulance has an international reputation for clinical excellence and delivers pioneering procedures which have been adopted across the world.
London's Air Ambulance was the first air ambulance service in the UK:
- with a doctor and paramedic team;
- to deliver high standard pre-hospital anaesthesia;
- to have a clinical governance programme;
- to perform a thoracotomy (open heart surgery) at the roadside;
- to perform thoracostomy (to drain collapsed lungs);
- to use check lists to improve patient safety;
- with air & land based response; and to provide 24 hour cover.
We provide pre-hospital emergency medical care to victims of serious injury.
The types of injury we attend are:
- Road traffic accidents (RTAs)
- Falls from height
- "One unders" (incidents on the rail network)
- Industrial accidents
- Stabbings & shootings
- Structural collapse
- Impalings, hangings, drownings
A London's Air Ambulance paramedic is based in the London Ambulance Service control room, monitoring the thousands of calls that pass through there everyday for injuries such as the above. He/She will then dispatch the London's Air Ambulance team. We can also be called by any of the emergency services, such as the fire brigade or police.
The London's Air Ambulance doctors, supported by the paramedics, perform procedures and operations in the street which are normally only found in the hospital emergency department. Timing is of the essence for the types of injury London's Air Ambulance attends.
Serious trauma or serious injury is the commonest cause of death for 1-55 year olds.
Without London's Air Ambulance patients will not receive critical care at the roadside and can endure delays in receiving life saving care.
History
In 1988, The Royal College of Surgeons produced a report which criticised the care that victims of major trauma received in the UK. It documented cases of patients dying unnecessarily because of the delay in receiving prompt and appropriate medical care.
London's Air Ambulance was established to address findings of this report and to find a way to respond quickly in London's increasingly congested roads.
London's Air Ambulance began its operations in 1990 from a temporary base outside central London. There was a great deal of competition from hospitals in London to have the helicopter based at their hospital. The Royal London Hospital was successful in its bid as it was the only multi disciplinary hospital with a site where it would be safe to build a roof top helipad. London's Air Ambulance began to fly from the rooftop at the Royal London on 30th August 1991.
At launch, Express Newspapers put in £3million and this was matched by the Government. For the first ten years, the service existed on Government funding. Fundraising allowed for service developments and shortfalls in government contributions.
London's Air Ambulance is now supported by the charity which relies heavily on donations from the public and corporate sponsorships. The Charity pays for the helicopter and the cars, the pilots, the firecrew and the charity staff.
The London's Air Ambulance team have been involved in many major incidents, including the train crashes - Cannon Street, Southall and Paddington - the Soho bomb and the July 7th 2005 terrorist attacks on London's transport system when some 18 sorties were carried out by the helicopter to deliver medical care and supplies to the scenes of the incidents.
The Helicopter
London's Air Ambulance operates an MD902 Explorer twin engine helicopter, one of the most identifiable in the world. This is one of a new generation of aircraft chosen for its safety features which include no tail rotor, important in an urban environment. It has been specially adapted for its purpose, to enable patients to be treated to the standard of an intensive care unit in flight.
From it's helipad at the top of the Royal London Hospital, the Helicopter can reach the furthest points of the M25 within 12 minutes. Each flying team consists of a senior trauma doctor, a paramedic, two pilots (one of whom acts as a navigator), and an observer (usually a doctor or paramedic completing their first month with London's Air Ambulance, training for their role).
The Helicopter's main use is to get this specialist trauma team to the patient in the quickest possible time – the team can be airborne within 2-3 minutes of receiving a call. The doctor and paramedic will treat the patient, performing operations and procedures that are normally only seen in the hospital emergency department. Once the patient is stabilised they will be taken to the nearest hospital best equipped to deal with the injuries. The helicopter is equipped to take a patient to the hospital but this is not always the case. Often the patient will travel by London Ambulance Service accompanied by the air ambulance team.
The Helicopter's medical team is equipped with a substantial range of drugs, emergency surgical kits, monitors and other equipment 'a mini Accident & Emergency Department (A&E) of their own' so that they can begin treatment straight away.
When we can't fly, we drive
When the Helicopter is offline – either at night when it is too dangerous to land in London, or if there are dangerous weather conditions – the operation is supported by a rapid response car team which ensures 24 hour care to London.
The rapid response cars also carry a senior trauma doctor and a specially trained paramedic to the scene of the injury in the quickest time possible. The Rapid Response team will treat the patient on scene, carrying out procedures normally only found in the emergency room. The Rapid Response team patrol London awaiting a call from the London Ambulance Service's control room to send them to a serious case. The rapid response cars attend the same types of serious incidents as the Helicopter.
London's Air Ambulance has six Skoda Octavias. All cars are equipped with blue lights, high visibility strips and badges to identify the car as part of the London's Air Ambulance fleet.
Blue Light Drivers at London's Air Ambulance undergo a five day training course under blue light conditions. The training also includes Vehicle Daily Inspection (VDI), Ground Escorting and a written Highway Code Driving Test. London's Air Ambulance has its own internal driving licence.
Get involved in our 5K Fun Run
On 18th September 2011, London's Air Ambulance is holding its Annual 5K Fun Run.
Whether you are running to beat a personal best or running for the very first time, it's going to be a fantastic day and London's air Ambulance would love to have your support.
Entry fee is £14 per runner (this includes a t-shirt, a bottle of water, a timing chip and a medal) There is no minimum sponsorship, the Charity just asks that you raise as much as you can.
Fancy dress is encouraged and there are prizes for the best dressed.
For more information, contact the fundraising office on 020 7943 1302 or email francesca.savage@bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk.
We hope to see you there!
Stats
- London's Air Ambulance has now attended over 25,000 missions since inception in 1989
- Last year we attended 1979 missions, of which
- 716 were to Road Traffic Collisions
- 518 were to penetrating trauma
- 185 were to youths under the age of 16
If you wish to learn more about London's Air Ambulance or support the charity
Please visit www.londonsairambulance.co.uk
Or call 020 7943 1302
Or follow @thehelipad
Or 'Like' London's Air Ambulance
Paul Rogers - Photographer
This exhibition is a collaboration between The Times newspaper, London's Air Ambulance & Barts and The London NHS Trust and The Royal Society of Medicine. The exhibition follows an article by Tim Rushby-Smith which was published in Times2 on July 22nd 2010.
All photographs for this exhibition were taken by Paul Rogers for Times2.
When he was 15, Paul Rogers turned his Mum's bathroom into a darkroom at night, and taught himself black and white photography and printing. He continued photography whilst a physics undergraduate at the University of Wales in Cardiff, and spent more time working on the award winning student newspaper, Gair Rhydd than at lectures.
He then studied photojournalism under Daniel Meadows, also at Cardiff, before working for the Birmingham based agency News Team. Moving to London in 1998, he was soon working for the Times newspaper where he has been a contract photographer ever since. Covering worldwide news and features, assignments have included the Kosovan conflict, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan. He has worked under cover in Burma and twice in the secretive North Korea. He met his wife, Helen in the news room of Gair Rhydd in Cardiff, and they live with their two children in Hertfordshire.
