Q&A: The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance is gearing up for another busy Christmas in the skies as the team continue their life-saving 365 days-a-year service.
Whether you are suffering from a cardiac complaint or needing advanced trauma care at the roadside, the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA) can be anywhere on the Isle of Wight in just 20 minutes, giving Islanders a stronger chance of survival.
That amazing response remains the same this Christmas period with a team of doctors and paramedics on standby from 07:00 in the morning, ready to respond to a request from the Isle of Wight Ambulance Service.
The helicopter and her crew will soon be flying into the darkness too with training is well underway to enable night time operations until the early hours of the morning in the brand new yellow Eurocopter helicopter.
Island Echo has this week spoken with Alex Lochrane, the charity’s CEO, to find out more about the air ambulance and what the future holds for HIOWAA.
Question and Answer with Alex Lochrane
Q: So what is the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance and what does it mean for residents on the Isle of Wight?
A: “We are the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance – we are not part of the NHS. We receive no NHS or regular government funding for our operation; it is all on the basis of the generosity of people in both Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight.
In essence what we do is two fold. Through our trauma doctors and HEMS paramedics on board we bring a little bit of the A&E to the patient. We bring it to them at the roadside, to where they have fallen ill or where they may have fallen over and we cover a wide range of both and trauma and medical.
The other important thing we can do because of the team on board is to then get the patient from the scene to the right hospital. Particularly as far as the residents of the Island are concerned, the Solent makes a big difference in terms of transfer times when time is so critical. For the more acute patients we can get them across to either QA (Queen Alexandra) or the major trauma centre in Southampton.
In 2014, of our 708 missions some 108 were dedicated transfers from the Island to QA.
Q: What are the differences between the Children’s Air Ambulance (pictured left) and the service the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance provides?
A: It’s a very good question. There are 20 different air ambulances in England alone. We all do things differently and we are all charities.
As far as the Children’s Air Ambulance is concerned, there is no funding transfer between us and we don’t operate together as we carry out two quite different services. The Children’s Air Ambulance provides a very necessary, pre-booked, pediatric transfer service from hospital to hospital. We on the other hand go out into the New Forest or the Island, to the roadside or to a building site and provide a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS), which also includes young people – 11% of missions in 2014 for young people between the ages of 0-17-years-old.
At the moment we operate 12 hours a day and will be airbourne within 4 mins and we can be anywhere in Hampshire or on the Island in 20 minutes. The Children’s Air Ambulance can be arranged to be sat ready and waiting for the exact moment the doctors need it when it is safe to move the young person to anywhere in the country.
Q: The charity receives no Government funding, so how much does the HIOWAA need to raise per day to keep flying and saving lives?
A: Just over £7000 a day. That is the new target cost because of our new helicopter and the teams will very soon start to operate into the night up until 02:00. It’s over £200,000 a month, which is met by the amazing generosity of a lot of supporters.
Q: With the arrival of a new helicopter capable of night time flying, how will this change the HIOWAA’s availability to Island patients?
A: We have a big training requirement to get our paramedics and doctors ready for night time flying. We fly with one pilot but a paramedic sits alongside to help navigate the aircraft. We are now asking them to do that with the lights off and night vision googles on. They have been training on that for the last 6 weeks and hopefully the training will come to an end next month.
When we agree that we are ready with the ambulance services and Thames Valley Air Ambulance, who we work very closely with, we will go night capable which will extend our operating hours from 07:00 until 02:00.
As of today, the only people who can respond to a night time call for an emergency transfer is the Coastguard. If time is of the essence for someone who is critically ill and the helicopter is already tasked, it could be a problem. Very soon we will be able to respond to night time requests as well.
At the moment equipment and a doctor or senior nurse have to go into the Coastguard helicopter on a transfer, but soon we will be able to provide not only our HEMS trauma consultants – our very senior doctors – but also our paramedics. We will have a tip top clinical team who can provide the patient the support they need without needing to deprive the Island of vital resources overnight.
Q: Where do you see the charity heading in the next few years and what is needed to make that happen?
A: At the moment we are extending our hours and in order to extend the service we provide, we need even more capable people on board for all the hours we are operating. We are working alongside doctors, trauma centres and ambulance services to help train pre-hospital emergency doctors. This program will allow more doctors to operate in the pre-hospital environment.
In addition, we need more paramedics so we are working with ambulance services to create an education pathway to recruit these life-savers.
This year we took the decision to launch ‘Be a 999 hero’, which is going into primary schools across the county. Launched in October, 70 schools have already signed up to receive the presentation to learn about what it takes to be a paramedic and to understand what 999 means.
We are also about to put some big developments into the Thurxton base to allow us to train and do simulation for our paramedics and doctors.
Q: We often see the HIOWAA flying across and landing on the Island to help those in need, but how large is the area you serve?
A: Including the population of the Island, 1.5million people. We work closely with the Thames Valley Air Ambulance who cover Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire and including their area it is 3.8 million people.
Q: What can Islanders do to help the charity?
A: We have a lottery that is £1 to play which people can sign up to – this gives us great support. We also have a host of events across the Island each year and I can confirm that we will be returning with our Emergency Services Day at Sandown Airport in September.
There are also a number of challenges folk can sign up to and fundraise for, which allows them to be part of an amazing event to challenge themselves too. Next year we are hosting a charity sky dive (https://www.hiowaa.org/event-page/?action=evrplusegister&event_id=2).
We would also love for people to get in touch and put us in contact with their local schools to deliver our ‘999 Be a Hero’.
You can find out more about the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance by visiting https://www.hiowaa.org/.
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