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AIR AMBULANCE Saving lives in the sky, we spend some time with the newest medic at the Linconlshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance.
The Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance: SAVING LIVES in the SKY
It’s the sight that you’re proud to see operating overhead, but hope you never need to call upon yourself. This month we’re meeting the newest recruit of the Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance, as Scott Houston joins the team delivering care in the air...
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n The crew responded to 1,496 missions in 2021 with each mission costing on average £3,500. n That’s compared to 1,095 missions in 2020 and 877 missions in 2019. n In April 2022, the service responded to 119 missions. n The crew had an exceptionally busy Bank Holiday weekend with 21 missions over the four days. That’s an average of over five missions a day; a ‘normal’ average is three/four. n The helicopter attended 56 missions in April. The Lincs Critical Care Car attended 34, and the Notts Critical Care Car attended 29.
The service’s reception area overlooks its new, purpose-built airfield, on the opposite side of the A15 to its previous home on a small patch of airbase at RAF Waddington. The new (as of 2021) HQ is lovely and light, and was much needed, as the previous home of the service was outdated, with a separate home in the village of Waddington for fundraising and finance staff. The new complex has brought the ‘sunset plus 30 minutes,’ operational side and the and the service also runs fundraising and adminis- two Critical Care Cars. The trative teams together, first, based in Nottingham enabling closer working. operates from 2pm to 2am, Yes, the new home was an essential move for a service that has grown and gone from success to success since it was established, taking off Thursday to Sunday. The second, is used 24/7 either as the primary responding resource or when the helicopter isn’t available. for its first mission in 1994. But whatever else The service receives no NHS funding, no has developed, what hasn’t changed is that funding from central or local governments to when the claxon sounds, the service is in the run its day to day operations. air within minutes, saving lives and working alongside its NHS colleagues. Only by the grace of the public’s generosity and fundraising activities can the service exist. In 1991, a trust was set up to explore the Currently it costs £7.4m to keep the service possibility of establishing an air ambulance service for the county. Fundraising began and the first airlift took place in May 1994, staffed by one pilot, one or two paramedics, and The latest Air Ambulance statistics... flying an ex-Police Bolkow helicopter. Up to date information on the service’s activities in Lincolnshire and beyond A year later the service flew 365 days a year, and new helicopters in 2000 and 2010 saw n By location, the the service able to fly further, faster and with service went to Lincolnshire incidents a greater payload and more equipment on 77 times, 28 incidents in board. Nottinghamshire and 14 The service’s most recent aircraft landed in emergencies beyond those county borders. 2017. The AgustaWestland 169 can fly in ex- n Since 1994 the service cess of 200mph and is equipped with night- has flown over 25,000 vision equipment, making it technically potentially life-saving possible for the service to operate after missions. daylight. Currently the ambucopter flies until
Care in the Air
Costs £7.4m in the air, 100% of which must be raised by the charity. Some still believe that our local Air Ambulance service is fully or A callout occurred 1,496 times last year. 955partly funded by the NHS or by central or local government. shouts were in Lincolnshire, 436 calls were in
Not true. Every penny of the Nottinghamshire and the remainder were in service’s £7.4m annual costs are raised by neighbouring counties. Just under 500 callthe charity. outs were to medical emergencies and 452 to RTCs (road traffic collisions). The remaining workload of the service comprises shouts to assaults, falls from height, sports and leisure incidents, industrial injuries, and miscellaneous shouts including – but not limited to – burns, drowning, self-harm and medical transfers. You’d think that winter would be the service’s busiest time. >>
>> Icy roads, slips and falls? No. In fact it’s those summer afternoons, weekends and warm days, which often prove busiest for the crews of the Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance service. When the warmer weather brings motorcyclists to the counties’ roads as well as more people taking part in sporting activities, the number of accidents increase and it’s these summer months that sees the county’s very special and entirely independently-funded service come to the rescue. The most obvious feature of the service is the fact that it flies to a casualty, that’s clearly a boon in Lincolnshire, reaching a patient irrespective of problematic congested roads, landing in fields and similarly inaccessible places, and of course, travelling much faster to the patient thanks to a more direct route, faster speed and fewer delays. But that’s really only half the story. The extended skill-set and treatment capability of the doctor-paramedic air ambulance team is second to none, enabling them to provide a wide range of treatment options to patients. This month the service is bracing itself to be busy and its newest doctor, Scott Houston, is undergoing an intense period of training to equip him for his role with the team, ready to face the summer months ahead.
Already an experienced critical care doctor at Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, Scott is currently being supervised by an experienced doctor for several weeks before undergoing a sign off shift with a consultant to ensure he’s performing at the top of his game. He has hardly had time to settle in, before facing the summer months with the area’s ambucopter.
“The role appealed because in a hospital environment you have access to facilities, to
The Service’s AgustaWestland
The Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance’s AgustaWestland 169 can fly at up to 204mph but cruises at 160mph. It can fly for up to 375 miles, and it’s 15 metres long, weighing in at 4,800kg!
HRH The Earl of Wessex officially opened the service’s new HQ in September 2021.
Doctors, paramedics and pilots. Scott is pictured second from right.
“I wouldn’t be here without the Air Ambulance...”
These are just a few of the stories of those rescued by the service, who will forever be grateful to the team!
The Motorcyclist: Andy Braybrook is 33 and from Hough-on-the-Hill. After a motorcycle collision on the A153, he went into cardiac arrest and his lungs collapsed. Because the air ambulance was able to airlift him to Nottingham’s QMC in 15 minutes – an hour sooner than a road-going ambulance would take –Andy survived, and says he can’t thank the crew enough. The Gardener: Alasdair Baker from Spalding was mowing his lawn when he fell and hit his head, breaking his ankle and bones in his lower leg. He was airlifted to hospital in just 17 minutes and is recovering at home. The Horserider: Ruth from Grantham suffered a broken pelvis and internal injuries when her horse reared up and she fell off. The animal landed on top of her but with the help of the air ambulance, she could be airlifted to Lincoln County Hospital in just seven minutes. She was knocked off her horse again five years later, just a week before her dream wedding. Airlifted to hospital again, Ruth eventually married her partner, although it was six months later than planned... she’s since completed a few fundraising challenges including a 10km run for the service and can still ride her horse thanks to the team. The Winter Injury: During the ‘Beast from the East,’ Paul got stuck in his car and in attempting to dig away the snow, ‘pulled a muscle in his back.’ He was in great pain and without realising it, hadn’t in fact pulled a muscle but was suffering a heart attack. Snow doesn’t bother the air ambulance, which lifted Paul to Lincoln County Hospital where he underwent a life-saving operation. The Youngster: Joe was playing in his local park when a motorcycle, jumping a red light, ploughed into the youngster. His injuries were extensive but he miraculously survived and now raises money for the service and has recently completed a 14 mile sponsored walk. n
Saving Lives in the Sky...
n The service was founded in 1994.
n The service receives absolutely NO funding from the NHS, EMAS, local or national government for its day-to-day operation. Its £7.4m operating costs are raised entirely by fundraising. n In 2021 the service responded to 1,496 missions. In 2020 that was 1,095 and 877 in 2019.
n During 2021 the service transitioned from a 24/5 service to a full 24/7 clinical service and since the 1st Sept 2021 it has covered 24 hours every day with a clinical team.
n RTCs and medical incidents have been the main incident type the charity’s teams have attended accounting for 76%, the rest have been assaults, sports and leisure, industrial incidents, incidents on the railways and accidental.
n The service covers 3,500 square miles, with its population of over 2.5m people. n Recently the service has been able to increase its nightflying operations thanks to new night vision equipment.
staff and to equipment,” says Scott. “But working with the Air Ambulance doctorparamedic team you have only what you bring with you to the scene.”
Originally from Scotland and a graduate of the Glasgow Medical School, Scott found he had a particular interest in critical care and after completing rotations in conventional medical specialisms, spent an extra year on an A&E rotation before pursuing a three year post-graduate specialism working in intensive care settings, rotating around general ICU environments as well as ICU settings which specialised in particular areas of medicine like neurology and cardiology. Scott was also pursuing an interest in competing in triathlons, and had attended a few events, then a few other sporting events in his capacity as a practitioner of emergency medicine.
By February 2022 he’d be working as a consultant in a conventional emergency medicine environment, but when a year-long opportunity to pursue a 12-month clinical fellowship with the Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance arose, it was a role Scott couldn’t turn down. “I didn’t have a huge amount of flying experience, but I’d taken a couple of flying lessons in an aeroplane before, and I had experienced a helicopter flight around the Forth Road bridge whilst back in Scotland. But the means of getting to a patient remains only one aspect of what makes this service unique.” “There’s no doubt that the helicopters has a number of advantages, not least among which is speed, smooth transit of patients and the ability to defy queues of traffic, or land in remote places like open fields,” says Scott. “But we’ve additional equipment, pharmacology, training and experience beyond roadbased paramedics, allowing us to provide extra support for our EMAS colleagues.” “All 999 calls received by the East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) are monitored by a Air Desk staffed by a specially trained Dispatcher. The Dispatcher’s role is to identify the most serious incidents and dispatch our helicopter – Helimed 29, and doctor-paramedic team to the scene.” “We’re able to perform intubation, and other surgical procedures like performing open heart surgery at the roadside. We’ve additional painkillers and we can anaesthetise a patient at the scene.” “We’ve an on-board ventilator and we have several units of blood and the ability to perform transfusions at the side of the road. In undertaking blood transfusions we carry red blood cells which helps oxygen delivery and plasma which helps the blood to clot. Carrying both components is really important because it mirrors what the hospital would give when the patient arrives.” Most recently, the service achieved CQC (Care Quality Commission) registration which allows it to determine its own procedures and processes and allow it to be selfdirecting (subject to inspections), rather than simply coming under the governance of EMAS, giving it much more flexibility in the way it can function in the future. 2021 was the service’s busiest year to date, and though the service has its most sophisticated equipment ever, the most up-to-date facilities, and a team more dedicated than ever to saving lives in the sky – as well as from its critical care cars – never should it be taken for granted that only because of dedicated fundraisers and volunteers can the service continue to be there for the entire population of Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire, 365 days a year. n
Karen Jobling, Chief Exec of the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance Service.
FUNDRAISING How to help support our local air ambulance service...
n Donations: The Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance does not receive any direct government or NHS funding and so without public donations, the service could not continue. You can donate by calling 01522 548469 or online at www.ambucopter.org.uk.
n Play the Service’s Lottery: For just £1 you can play the service’s lottery with its weekly cash prizes of £1,000, £200 and £100, plus 4 x £50.
n Volunteering & Fundraising: Whilst pilots and medics are frequently recognised in features like this one, there’s a small army of absolutely committed volunteers in the charity’s shops and those who raise money for the service through sponsored events and other activities. These often-unsung heroes are essential to the service.
n Legacies, Trusts & Grants: There are plenty of other ways for individuals and companies to support the service... get in touch with the service’s Trusts & Foundations manager Rachael Baxter to find out more, or consider leaving the service a gift in your will.
The Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance service is based on HEMS Way, Sleaford Road, Waddington, Lincoln LN4 2GW. Call 01522 548469 or see www.ambucopter.org.uk.
