The Air Ambulance Service
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The Air Ambulance Service (TAAS) is a registered charity in the UK that runs two emergency air ambulances, the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance (WNAA) and the Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA), and also operates the national
Children's Air Ambulance The Children's Air Ambulance (TCAA) is a charity-funded air ambulance service that transfers critically ill children from local hospitals to specialist paediatric centres throughout Great Britain. It also moves specialist teams and equipment to ...
, an emergency transfer service for seriously ill babies and children. , the Charity's membership of the Association of Air Ambulances is suspended due to an investigation by the Charity Commission.


Operations

The charity runs three services, two are emergency helicopters covering
Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
,
Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
,
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
,
Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
and
Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...
and the third is the Children's Air Ambulance that covers Great Britain and provides an emergency transfer service for seriously ill babies and children. Both WNAA and DLRAA attend incidents in the neighboring counties of
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
,
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
,
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
and
West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
when requested, significantly increasing the coverage of the service. All three of the services operated are registered with the
Care Quality Commission The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care services in England. I ...
, whose reports have identified high standards of emergency care. WNAA and DLRAA both fly with a pilot, a doctor and a critical care paramedic on board. The Children's Air Ambulance flies with two pilots and a team of up to three
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 " ...
clinicians which includes at least one senior nurse and often a consultant. The charity runs a retail operation for fundraising consisting of 57 shops. The retail head office and main warehouse is based in
Kegworth Kegworth () is a large village and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, in the East Midlands region, England. It forms part of the border with Nottinghamshire and is situated 6 miles north of Loughborough, ...
, with a second warehouse in
Daventry Daventry ( , historically ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority in Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 Census Daventry had a population of 28,123, making ...
. The charity opened a superstore in Derbyshire in February 2019.


Aircraft

The charity currently leases four aircraft; two
AgustaWestland AW109 The AgustaWestland AW109, originally the Agusta A109, is a lightweight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter designed and initially produced by the Italian rotorcraft manufacturer Agusta. It was the first all-Italian helicopter to ...
helicopters from Sloane Helicopters, and two
AgustaWestland AW169 The AgustaWestland AW169 is a twin-engine, 10-seat, 4.8t helicopter developed and manufactured by the helicopter division of Leonardo (formerly AgustaWestland, merged into Finmeccanica since 2016). It was designed to share similarities with the ...
helicopters from Specialist Aviation Services. * G-RSCU, an AW109E based at
Coventry Airport Coventry Airport is located south-southeast of Coventry city centre, in the village of Baginton, Warwickshire, England. The airport is operated and licensed by Coventry Airport Limited. Its CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P902) allows flights ...
for the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance. * G-TAAS, an AW109SP based at
East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () nort ...
for the Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance. * G-PICU, an AW169 based at
Oxford Airport London Oxford Airport , formerly known as Kidlington Airport, is a privately owned airport located near Kidlington Kidlington is a major village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxfordshire, England, between the River Cherwell ...
covering the south of the country for The Children's Air Ambulance. * G-TCAA, an AW169 based at
Doncaster Sheffield Airport Doncaster Sheffield Airport , formerly named and commonly referred to as Robin Hood Airport, is an unscheduled international airport closed to passenger traffic. The airport is located in Finningley near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. ...
covering the north of the country for The Children's Air Ambulance.


Road vehicles

In addition to providing air ambulance services, the charity also operates two
Skoda Škoda means ''pity'' in the Czech and Slovak languages. It may also refer to: Czech brands and enterprises * Škoda Auto, automobile and previously bicycle manufacturer in Mladá Boleslav ** Škoda Motorsport, the division of Škoda Auto respons ...
4x4 Critical Care Rapid Response Vehicles based at Coventry Airport and East Midlands Airport. These are used to provide assistance and attend emergency incidents when the air ambulances are unavailable. The RRV's carry the same equipment as the helicopters including a defibrillator/cardiac monitor, CPR machine and kit bag containing medical consumables and drugs.


History

Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance was launched in 2003. By 12 June 2004, it had already flown its 1,000th mission. Just over two years later, on 10 October 2006, they had completed 5,000 incidents. In 2008, the charity took over Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance, which had been struggling to raise funds. The service now serves over Less than a year after Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance became the sister service to Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance, it flew its 1,000th mission on 17 January 2009. At the beginning of 2010, Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance flew its 10,000th mission. The same year, the charity branched out into the retail sector, opening its first high street charity boutique in Rugby, Warwickshire. In 2011, the two air ambulance services were brought together under the umbrella name of The Air Ambulance Service. In July of the same year, they were registered with the Care Quality Commission. In 2012, the service started independently employing their paramedics full-time. The charity also launched a national recycling scheme and launched the Children's Air Ambulance. On 12 May 2013, the Children's Air Ambulance carried out their first baby transfer. Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland also flew its 5,000th mission on 5 June, following four years of service. In October 2014, the Children's Air Ambulance carried out its 100th transfer. In September 2018, the Children's Air Ambulance launched its two new AgustaWestland 169 helicopters which are based at London Oxford Airport and Doncaster Sheffield Airport. The new helicopters are significantly larger and higher specification than the previous aircraft featuring bespoke clinical equipment and an additional seat for a parent to accompany the patient and crew on transfers.


Funding and strategy

The Air Ambulance Service is an independent charity which receives no government funding. It raises funds from the general public, corporate supporters, lotteries and trusts. The charity also operates a chain of 57 shops which are based across the Midlands, M40 corridor and around London. In 2013, the charity raised £11.1million to fund its services. In 2017, the charity raised £20.5M to fund its services. In the same year they spent £6.0M on charitable activities (30% of spending). The charity is working to a new strategic plan covering the period 2015 to 2020. Its key strategic priorities are to continue to improve the quality of all its services and for the Children's Air Ambulance to be able to meet at least 90% of the demand for helicopter transfers between local hospitals and specialist paediatric centres.


Criticisms

The Air Ambulance Service has been repeatedly criticised by the public, the Association of Air Ambulances, and other charities, for running fundraising and stock generation activities in areas covered by other air ambulance charities. In 2013, the BBC published an insight into the charity, with previous employees of the charity as sources. The article stated that several thousands of pounds were spent on hiring
Anton du Beke Anthony Paul Beke (born 20 July 1966), known professionally as Anton Du Beke (), is a British ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dancer, and television presenter, best known for being a professional dancer and later a judge on the BBC One cele ...
and
Erin Boag Erin Boag (born 17 March 1975) is a professional ballroom dancer. She has danced from the age of three, originally starting ballet and later moving into ballroom dance, ballroom, Latin dance, Latin and Jazz dance, jazz. Born in Auckland, New Zeal ...
to give dance classes to staff as a reward. The source, a former fundraising manager, also said that funds raised were largely spent on "the upkeep of the charity: salaries, cars, the recruitment of more and more senior personnel." And in some cases performance related bonuses. An investigation by the
Charity Commission , type = Non-ministerial government department , seal = , seal_caption = , logo = Charity Commission for England and Wales logo.svg , logo_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , ...
found that there had been a "lack of oversight" but only took advisory action. In their final report, the Charity Commission stated that "trustees have made good progress in improving the governance of the charity." In March 2018, the charity was subject to allegations in ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' newspaper. The Charity Commission later announced it was re-opening its investigation as a result of the article.


See also

*
Air ambulances in the United Kingdom Air ambulance services in the United Kingdom provide emergency medical functions, patient transport between specialist centres, or medical repatriation. Services are provided by a mixture of organisations, operating either helicopters or fixed ...


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Air Ambulance Service Air ambulance services in England Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom Aviation organisations based in the United Kingdom 2005 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2005