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Calling the flying doctors to the rescue
SINCE its first flight on October 1, 2003, there has been a lot of publicity surrounding the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance (WNAA) and the exceptional work it does.
However, until people need the services of the air ambulance in an emergency or you see it for yourself first hand, it is very unlikely you would appreciate how important it really is.
I was lucky enough to be invited along to Coventry Airport earlier this month to spend the morning with the air ambulance team.
I was warned beforehand that the crew could be called out on a mission at any time, but I didn't quite realise that meant they could be out for the majority of the day!
The crew working when I visited was Dr Neil Thomson, paramedic Justin Pointon and pilot Richard Craske who gave me a good insight into a day in the life of the air ambulance team.
Dr Thomson, who has worked as a full-time doctor for WNAA since September last year, said: "It's a great job, with a fantastic team of pilots, paramedics, doctors and fundraisers.
"We all work for the same thing – improving patient care and providing an excellent standard of care.
"The air ambulance plays a vital role in delivering critical care to the people of Warwickshire, Northampton-shire and the West Midlands.
The aircraft delivers a specially-trained doctor and paramedic to the patient in a very short space of time.
"Although the crew work closely with the NHS ambulance services, they have extra skills that allow them to stabilise the sickest or most seriously injured of patients.
"One of the greatest advantages is that we are able to fly patients directly to specialist centres.
"There is lots of evidence to suggest that patients with serious brain injuries do better at major hospitals than at small local centres. We are also able to get to patients who are nowhere near roadways, such as in fields or farms."
Before the launch of WNAA, the region relied on an older, slower aircraft with limited space for onboard patient treatment.
The new service shifted the emphasis from transporting casualties to hospital, to recognising the need to get senior doctors and consultants to incidents as quickly as possible, providing lifesaving treatment and medication at the scene and en-route to hospital.
The service has gone from strength to strength and now has a team of 12 doctors, 12 paramedics and three pilots covering 2,000 square miles and serving around two million people.
As well as covering Warwickshire and Northamptonshire, by mutual agreement the helicopter also helps out in Birmingham, the West Midlands, Buckingham-shire, Oxfordshire, Leicester-shire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire when it is needed.
In October 2006, a new faster helicopter was unveiled, meaning an increased service to 365 days a year. And with call outs between 120 and 150 times a month, our air ambulance is the busiest in the UK.
It is also the fastest civilian helicopter in the country, flying anywhere in Warwickshire in eight minutes and anywhere in Northamptonshire in 13 minutes, with a doctor, paramedic and pilot on each flight.
Captain Craske, who has been working as a full-time pilot for WNAA for three years, said: "We have the fastest civilian helicopter there is and we fly at top speed.
"Warwickshire and Northamptonshire don't realise how lucky they are.
"It's the fastest and best equipped mainland air ambulance, except for London, that carries a doctor everyday."
A normal day for the crew starts at about 7.30am when a full check or the aircraft medical kit is carried out.
Dr Thomson said: "We have to make sure the aircraft is ready to use because when we arrive at a scene it's not the time to realise you haven't got the right drugs or equipment."
The crew then wait for their first call out of the day.
Captain Craske said: "As soon as the bell goes, it's spring time.
"I go straight down and start the helicopter and the other two work out the location and then come down and tell me which direction to go in.
"I'm ready before they even get in, so we can be airbourne as quickly as 45 seconds and we get priority over everything in the air."
The air ambulance is only called to a 'category A' call, which means it could be potentially life-threatening for the patients, or when the emergency is in a difficult location.
Our day visiting the air ambulance was fairly relaxed to begin with, sitting in their modest offices looking out on the airfield, the prestigious yellow and blue state-of-the-art helicopter just metres away.
After a friendly 30-minute chat with the team, a loud bell sounded through the office at 10.10am and the crew lept to their feet.
Just as they had described, they were up and away in the helicopter in just over a minute.
They had been called to a hotel gym where a man had suffered a massive heart attack.
He was stabilised and flown to University Hospital in Coventry where he was admitted to the intensive care unit.
A week later he was awake and expected to make a good recovery.
At 12.25pm the crew returned, but seconds after re-stocking the aircraft the emergency alarm sounded again.
Another speedy take-off took them to a road accident in Northamptonshire, before they headed straight to a serious accident in Birmingham.
They had another drop-off at base to re-stock, before heading out to another serious accident on the M6 near Rugby.
At 5pm, the crew returned to base where they were then able to sit down, eat lunch and complete some paperwork.
Several lives saved, hundreds of miles flown, and Dr Thomson described it as a 'normal' day.
The average cost per mission is around 850 and the annual running cost of the service is more than 1.4million.
This is raised entirely through donations and sponsorship because the service receives no funding from the Government or National Lottery.
Earlier this month Andy Williamson, director of the air ambulance, was hailed as charity principal of the year at the Charity Times Awards, held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.
The title is awarded to the head of an organisation who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and management skills in running a charity.
The air ambulance is currently only able to operate in daylight hours due to the costs of flying at night, but WNAA aims to become the first service in the UK to operate 24 hours a day by raising more than 2 million during 2007.
Tracey Grunwell, the regional fundraising manager for Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes, said: "The money we get just goes on keeping the helicopter in the air.
"We just have to keep going to reach our target.
"We are really pushing for the 24-hour service because many more lives would be saved."
To find out more information about the air ambulance, make a donation to the charity, organise a fundraising event, or find out about becoming a volunteer call 024 7663 9043, email appeals@wnaa.co.uk, or visit www.wnaa.co.uk.
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Weather for Daventry
Friday 18 May 2012
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