Funded by Charity

Some still believe that our local Air Ambulance service is fully or partly funded by the NHS or by central or local government. Not true. Every penny of the service’s £8m annual costs are raised by the charity.

>> Llewis Ingamells is Chief Pilot with the service, born and raised in Boston. Having trained as a pilot in Sandtoft in the mid-2000s he served as a commercial pilot for utility companies and an instructor before working as a pilot for the police. In 2016, his dream job came along… one he’d coveted since being a youngster.

“I must have been about 13 years of age when I first met the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance team at the Waddington Air Show,” he says. “I was awe-struck and that’s really what started my interest.

“Going back a number of years, the role of an air ambulance was a bit more ‘swoop and scoop.’ There was more of a focus on transporting a patient as soon as possible. The idea was that reaching, treating and delivering to hospital a patient within an hour would increase their chance of survival.”

While the speed of the helicopter remains highly important to a patient’s outcome, the team now focus on remaining at the scene for as long as it takes to deliver all of the treatments possible to save a life. The interventions the doctor and paramedic team carry out are at the forefront of emergency medicine.

The charity is always looking to innovate so that it can keep getting to more patients, wherever they are.

The service has extended the number of hours and weather conditions in which the helicopter can fly, with investment in night vision goggles. These, along with the capability of the aircraft, including a bright search light means the pilots can fly until 2am.

Llewis said: “What’s different about night flying is that the pilots need a’4D’ landing site which is four times the length of the he- licopter and twice the width – just over half a football pitch! The daytime equivalent is 2D which is around one and a half tennis courts. Also at night, due to the pre-planning needed, it takes around 15 minutes from call to take off, whereas during the day it’s up to five minutes.

“At night it’s very hard to see poor weather and avoid it. The HVGs can see through some poor weather but this can be a risk in itself as much as it can be of benefit. Operating on scene in the dark is also challenging for the medical team treating the patients.”

Llewis added: “We’re seeing people on the worst day of their lives, but when outcomes are favourable you come away knowing that everyone associated with the charity is committed to providing a service that’s one of the best in the country, and which helps to support our NHS colleagues. We’re all proud to be able to provide this service for our communities.” n