CHARITY SPOTLIGHT: Midlands Air Ambulance

Dom Humby reports…

Midlands Air Ambulance Charity is one of the busiest air ambulance services in the UK. Since 1991, they’ve provided pre-hospital emergency care to critically injured and ill patients across Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, the West Midlands and Worcestershire. 

Every second counts in an emergency and on average the crew arrive on scene within 10 minutes, whether by air ambulance or in one of their critical care cars. On average 12 patients are treated each day in desperate need of their advanced medical skill set with enhanced medicines and equipment at the incident scene.

Having been operational for over 33 years, Midlands Air Ambulance has responded to a staggering 77,000 missions, providing lifesaving critical care interventions and transporting patients to the best-suited hospital for their needs. This as such has become a vital integration into the emergency services infrastructure across the region, an incredible milestone to say the least that has been reached with support from the communities they serve and strong ties to the motorcycle community. 

Their annual Bike4LifeFest Ride Out & Festival helps raise awareness and a dedicated focus on biker safety is promoted, considering they attend a motorcyclist as often as every four days on average.

Using the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS), the main goal is the ongoing provision of outstanding pre-hospital emergency care and lifesaving intervention, helping save more lives and continuing the  improvement of patients’ chances of survival, including good recovery, through providing transparent, clinical and comprehensive operations of a helicopter-led emergency service sculpted to meet the changing demands of patient care. 

That being said, I think all of us who ever thought about being in ‘Airwolf’ realise that having a helicopter isn’t cheap. For Midlands Air Ambulance, it costs an incredible £13-£14 million each year to maintain the three aircraft, a fleet of critical care road vehicles, and providing a lifesaving service. Of course, each mission has a cost implication and on average that can be £2950 for critical air missions and £288 for critical care missions with no government support in place for these daily missions. This incredible service can only continue to achieve its goals through ongoing support and the generosity of the public, their supporters, local businesses and corporate partners.

Over the last 33 years, Midlands Air Ambulance has realised several quite incredible operational and clinical achievements. Most recently, all three airbases were rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), demonstrating the hard work and commitment of every single person across the whole of the organisation. Since the beginning of 2024, the pre-hospital lifesaving service has been trailing a new clinically operational model that now encompasses crews responding on a 24/7 basis, with further plans on how to improve and grow as a vital and integral part of emergency services. 

Continued investment in crew training and medical technology gives critical care paramedics and doctors the ability to handle any situations that arise. This, is turn, is also aided by finding new ways to share their knowledge base and expertise across six counties, providing the public with lifesaving skills via their popular first-aid courses First Biker on Scene. This course is specifically designed to give any biker the right skills and confidence to manage a casualty at the point of injury before the arrival of the emergency services. 

Without the continued support from the public, this vital service could not continue. Being solely reliant on volunteers, community groups, local businesses and donations keep the critical care services provided by Midlands Air Ambulance both in the air and on the road. 

Midlands Air Ambulance also run several fundraising events each year, not least the aforementioned Bike4Life Ride Out & Festival which sees 3500 bikes travel 26 miles from Meole Brace in Shrewsbury to the festival site at Weston Park in Staffordshire. This year’s event raised a staggering £132,700. This means that 41 air ambulances and an additional 46 critical care car missions have been made possible, thanks to the support from the event’s attendees.

People can get involved in many ways, from joining fundraising events like the Bike4Life Ride Out & Festival, to becoming regular donors or corporate sponsors. Every action helps to continue Midlands Air Ambulance’s lifesaving missions.

People can find out more information about Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, and ways to support them, at midlandsairambulance.com To find out more about the Bike4Life event, visit bike4lifefest.com or search ‘Bike4LifeFest’ on social media.