Kent Air Ambulance
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The Kent Air Ambulance was an organisation providing
emergency medical services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...
through the provision of a
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
air ambulance Air medical services is a comprehensive term covering the use of air transportation, aeroplane or helicopter, to move patients to and from healthcare facilities and accident scenes. Personnel provide comprehensive prehospital and emergency and cri ...
covering the county of
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
in
South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...
. The helicopter was funded by the Kent Air Ambulance Trust (under the operating name of the Kent Air Ambulance Fund), which was a registered charity, raising money from public and private donations in excess of £4m every year between Kent, Sussex and Surrey. In June 2007, the service extended it areas of operation to Surrey and Sussex requiring an additional helicopter. It now operates as Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex.


Overview and history

The service was operated by the Kent Air Ambulance Trust, a registered charity established in 1989. The trust was founded by Kate Chivers (in whose honour the helicopter was named), and was originally called the South East Thames Air Ambulance. Initially operated on a part-time basis, the air ambulance became a seven-day service in January 2000 and shortly afterwards moved from its original Rochester Airport base to Marden near
Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...
. It operated one McDonnell Douglas MD902 Explorer helicopter (
registration Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...
G-KAAT) from Marden. This location, combined with its high cruise speed, quoted by the manufacturer as in excess of 150 mph, enabled the crew to reach almost all of the county within 15 minutes of takeoff (the exception being the farther reaches of Thanet which may take up to 20 minutes to reach). In March 2008, it was announced that the trust would be collaborating with Sussex Police to provide a night time rescue service utilising the Sussex Police Air Operations Unit helicopter, Hotel 900, which is equipped to fly at night. Prior to this, the service was restricted to daylight operation only. The £1.6m that it cost to run each year was funded almost entirely by voluntary donations and fund-raising, such as the sale of its own lottery tickets, as it received little
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
, National Lottery or
NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
funding. The service flew over 12,000 missions since its inception.


1998 crash

In July 1998, the air ambulance, a Eurocopter AS355 Twin Squirrel, registration G-MASK, crashed in good weather after colliding with power cables near Burham while returning to Rochester Airport following an aborted call to attend a road accident. All three crew – the pilot, Graham Budden, and two paramedics, Tony Richardson and Mark Darby – were killed as the helicopter burst into flames on impact. Initial investigation established no cause for the crash, due to the fireball produced on impact. Initially the pilot's employers, Police Aviation Services, denied liability. On 19 February 2004, following a civil case brought by the pilot's widow to the High Court in Manchester, it was ruled that the crash was caused by mechanical failure not, as had been suggested, flying low for fun, and ordered compensation to be paid. A memorial to the crew is located at the Blue Bell Hill picnic site, close to the scene of the crash.


Expansion

In June 2007, following a two-year fundraising campaign, spearheaded by
Penelope Keith Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith, (née Hatfield; born 2 April 1940) is an English actress and presenter, active in film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms '' The Good Life'' and '' To the M ...
, the trust began operating a second helicopter from a new base at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, serving the Surrey and Sussex area. This newer service operated as the Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance. This aircraft was subsequently relocated to
Redhill Aerodrome Redhill Aerodrome is an operational general aviation aerodrome located south-east of Redhill, Surrey, England, in green belt land. Redhill Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P421) that allows flights for the public transport of ...
and was capable of night flight.


See also

* Air ambulances in the United Kingdom *
Healthcare in Kent Healthcare in Kent has, from 1 July 2022, been mainly the responsibility of the Kent & Medway Integrated Care Board. Certain specialised services are directly commissioned by NHS England, coordinated through the South East integrated regional tea ...
*
South East Coast Ambulance Service The South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) is the NHS ambulance services trust for south-eastern England, covering Kent (including Medway), Surrey, West Sussex and East Sussex (including Brighton and Hove). It also co ...


References

{{Marden Air ambulance services in England Health in Kent