Supporting our patients

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2 - OUTSTANDING CARE SUPPORTING OUR PATIENTS

Our Patient Liaison Nurse (PLN) has continued to provide additional support to patients and their families as they embark on the long and often difficult recovery journey. The PLN role bridges the gap between the pre-hospital care that our service is renowned for and the patient’s ongoing recovery. This is achieved in the following ways:

The provision of face to face follow-ups with patients to provide additional support and guidance, 172 bedside visits during the reporting period and the facilitation of peer-to-peer support opportunities whenever appropriate.

The continued signposting of patients and their families to other organisations that can provide vital and much needed support outside of the health service remit. The continued provision of bereavement consultations for bereaved families, giving them the opportunity to meet and hear from the teams who treated their loved ones.

Facilitating 55 patient and family visits to the helipad to meet the teams who looked after them.

The involvement of patients in the training and education for both clinicians and the BSc in Pre-hospital Medicine, to help enhance learning through the sharing of patient experiences.

In conjunction with the Institute of Pre-hospital Care, secured funding, planned and executed the second Pan London Trauma Nursing Conference, which brought together 450 nurses from the four trauma networks that make up the Pan London Trauma System.

The successes of the PLN role is such that it is being widely shared with similar services, including last year, North West Air Ambulance and Wales Air Ambulance.

Nicky, who now volunteers for the charity

Nicky, back on her skis after 17 months

“ AN AMAZING SERVICE LONDON’S AIR AMBULANCE IS

IT IS STAFFED BY WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO ARE

COMPASSIONATE, THOUGHTFUL

AND EMPATHETIC AND NOT JUST THE MEDICAL STAFF, I INCLUDE THE CHARITY STAFF AS WELL. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I AM ALSO A VOLUNTEER FOR THE SERVICE ”AND HAVE BEEN SINCE APRIL 2019.

CASE STUDY: NICKY

Nicky was cycling home from a yoga class when she was hit by a 34-tonne lorry, which ran over her right leg and left foot. Despite the life-threatening injuries she suffered, a team of advanced trauma medics from London’s Air Ambulance treated Nicky at the roadside and saved her leg from having to be amputated.

Nicky has faced a long and gruelling recovery, both physically and mentally. Her goal was to walk again unaided and eventually to ski. Incredibly Nicky raised over £6,000 by swimming a staggering 175 miles in her local swimming pool over a seven-month period in the early stages of her recovery. She then went on to ski 17 months after her accident. This year, for the first time, she has been able to get back on her bike and cycle again.