London’s Air Ambulance, also referred to as London HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service), is an air ambulance service that responds to injured casualties in and about London, England.
The service was formed in 1989 by Dr. Alastair Wilson OBE, as a response to a report by the Royal College of Surgeons that criticised pre-hospital trauma care. It””s now headed by Dr. Gareth Davies (also Chairman with the charity””s trustees) and is based in the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. The service was the initial air ambulance within the United Kingdom to carry a physician trained in emergency medicine along with a paramedic constantly. Considering that the service was founded, trauma deaths in London and on the M25 motorway have fallen by greater than 50%.
Operational region
The operational location of responsibility is London and also the spot inside the M25, even though it could fly additional afield if requested to. The group might be airborne inside two minutes of receiving a contact. From its hospital base, the furthest section of your M25 and therefore the usual limit of responsibility, is only 12 minutes flying time. The helicopter operates throughout daylight hours only due to the issues linked with landing on un-surveyed websites at evening; through the dark hours it””s replaced by speedy response automobiles.
Helicopter
The present helicopter made use of is really a McDonnell Douglas MD 902 Explorer, registration G-EHMS, that is notable because it will not use a tail-rotor. This was a handy function, because the helicopter have to routinely land in confined inner city places. It replaced a SA 365N Dauphin, registered G-HEMS, in October 2000.
While the MD 902 Explorer is usually a quieter model aircraft than its predecessor, many noise complaints are nevertheless filed relating to HEMS.
The helicopter commonly cruises at 130 knots, at an altitude of 1,500 ft. A frequent fuel load, about 400 kg, will allow for one particular hour””s flying time.
From six March 2012, the helicopter became the UK””s initially air ambulance to carry emergency blood supplies, enabling transfusions to become administered in the scene of an accident as opposed to later in hospital. A specialised refrigerator installed inside the helicopter makes it possible for the transport of 4 units from the universal O-negative blood kind which may be stored within the aircraft for as much as 72 hours (unused stocks may be returned for the hospital).
Fast response vehicles
At evening or when the helicopter is offline the healthcare crew, which includes a paramedic and senior trauma medical doctor, nonetheless respond to emergencies, but travel within a specially equipped speedy response automobile. The six automobiles, Škoda Octavias, sometimes operate throughout the day, carrying backup healthcare teams to key incidents, or responding to neighborhood incidents or individuals that take place when the helicopter group is currently deployed.
Funding
The service charges £2.25 million a year to run, but is only partly funded by the National Well being Service. London””s Air Ambulance within a registered charity (quantity 801013) as well as the service is funded by way of charitable donations and corporate donors, most notably by the Virgin Group, which donates about £170,000 per annum. A complete list of corporate donors is out there on the HEMS site. The charity also runs a weekly lottery to raise funds for the service, and holds numerous compact and substantial scale fundraising events all through the year.
Crew
The crew ordinarily consists of one particular pilot, one particular co-pilot, 1 medical professional and one particular paramedic. There exists sometimes an observer, who””s a physician or paramedic in education.
Ground services
On arrival in the Royal London Hospital helipad, specialist ground crew acquire the patient along with a devoted, express elevator carries the patient towards the accident and emergency division on the ground floor-where a trauma group with A&E doctors, general surgeons, specialist trauma surgeons, and anesthesiologists assemble to assess and treat them.
Physician Response Unit
The Physician Response Unit (PRU) brings the medical professional for the patient in their home, preventing an unnecessary waste of ambulance resources. The PRU also operates from the Royal London Hospital inside a fast response automobile.
The PRU is staffed by a physician and an Emergency Care Practitioner (ECP). Compared to just sending out an ECP within a automobile or an ambulance crewed by a paramedic and an emergency healthcare technician, a higher level of diagnostics and treatment is often initiated on-scene, giving the optimal outcome for the patient, and saving expensive procedures that could otherwise have been initiated.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
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