Medical Excellence in the Sky.

This week, the High Sheriffs from Kent, East and West Sussex and I visited the Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS) at its Redhill airbase. It gave us the chance to learn about the very impressive pre-hospital emergency care this charity provides, hear about its work across all four counties, and – very excitingly – sit in an air ambulance helicopter.

KSS is a service that never stops. It responds to the most sudden, seriously injured, and ill people in Kent, Surrey and Sussex: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in all weathers and often in very challenging conditions.

Its crews respond to more than 3,000 emergency incidents a year; the majority of which are medical emergencies, such as heart attacks or strokes, and road traffic accidents. Behind every mission is a multi-disciplinary team of more than 170 people, including operational staff, dispatchers, pilots, paramedics, and doctors. They operate three helicopters, as well as four rapid response cars.

The air ambulance is more than an ambulance in the sky. KSS crews, which consist of two pilots, one paramedic and one doctor, carry mechanical CPR equipment and blood, so that they can give blood transfusions at the roadside where necessary. Because a doctor is on board, they can provide emergency anaesthesia to help stabilise patients, and they can carry out roadside surgical procedures, including open heart surgery. There are 21 air ambulances across the UK. They are similar but different, and KSS is bigger than most.

The charity continually seeks to improve its practices. It aims to push the boundaries of what is possible in pre-hospital emergency care, striving to be the most effective first link in the “Chain of Survival”, so that more patients survive and recover.

KSS is not an NHS-led service. Amazingly, it is a service that for 90 per cent of its funding relies on donations from the communities it serves, but as one can imagine, it costs a lot to keep the service running – £21 million per year. I would therefore ask you to support it to ensure that the air ambulance keeps flying! You never know when you, or someone you know, might need to rely on these incredible people.  To find out more about the charity’s work and how you can help, visit https://aakss.org.uk/.