London's Air Ambulance Charity

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London's Air Ambulance Charity

Founded	1989
Type	Charitable organisation
Location	RAF Northolt[1] Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel
Coordinates	51°31′05″N 0°03′30″W / 51.5180°N 0.0583°W / 51.5180; -0.0583
Area served	London
Medical director	Dr Tom Hurst
CEO	Jonathan Jenkins
Revenue (2022)	£12.5 million[2]
Staff (2022)	78[2]
Volunteers (2022)	169[2]
Website	www.londonsairambulance.org.uk

London's Air Ambulance Charity is a registered charity that operates a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) dedicated to responding to serious trauma emergencies in and around London.^[3] Using a helicopter from 08:00 to sunset and rapid response vehicles by night, the service performs advanced medical interventions at the scene of the incident in life-threatening, time-critical situations.

The charity was founded in 1989 by General Surgeon Dr. Richard Earlam in response to a report by the Royal College of Surgeons, which documented cases of patients dying unnecessarily because of the delay in receiving prompt and appropriate medical care. The charity was the first in the UK to carry a senior doctor in addition to a paramedic at all times on a helicopter, introducing a system that reduces the death rate in severe trauma by 30–40%.^[4]

The helicopters are hangared at RAF Northolt,^[5] but operate during the day from their base at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, East London, a helicopter can reach any patient inside the M25 London orbital motorway, which acts as the service's catchment area, within 15 minutes. Missions commonly involve serious road traffic collisions, falls from height, stabbings and shootings, industrial accidents and incidents on the rail network. The team can perform advanced life-saving medical interventions, including open heart surgery, blood transfusion and anaesthesia, at the scene. The charity operates 24 hours a day, serving the 10 million people who live, work and travel within the M25. The service treats an average of five patients every day.