Our cohort of clinicians include a mixture of senior emergency physicians, intensive care consultants and anaesthetists, critical care nurses and specialist practitioners in critical care.
When responding to incidents by air, we provide a critical care team, consisting of at least a doctor, specialist practitioner and a pilot for each mission. The doctors are predominately drawn from NHS Hospital Trusts across the region and the practitioners are from the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT). Some clinicians have joined us from further afield, broadening the skills and experience of the team.
Our patient and family liaison nurses provide support to patients who have been treated by our team and can answer questions they might have about their pre-hospital care. They also provide links with patient support services and other charities aligned with the patient’s condition, whilst encouraging peer support links with other similarly injured patients.
Our pilots are provided by Specialist Aviation Services Ltd, who operate our aircraft. They are carefully selected because air ambulance flights are more challenging than regular non-emergency flight services. They have a great deal of experience in low-level operations and instrument flying.
We operate 19 hours a day (7.00am – 2.00am) providing a critical care service, using our AgustaWestland 169 (AW169) helicopter and critical care car. We also provide an enhanced care service using our outreach car in Dorset from 10.00am – 10.00pm, whilst working towards providing a seven-day per week service in Somerset for 2022.
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