London's Air Ambulance Charity

About

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. 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 and 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 critical care paramedic at all times on a helicopter, introducing a system that reduces the death rate in severe trauma by 30–40%.