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    • our-history-milestones
    1. Who We Are
    2. Our History and Milestones

    Our History and Milestones

    Your support over the years has enabled us to do many great things, but most of all, it has helped us to save and improve thousands of patients' lives.

    Here we have included some of our key milestones over the past 20 years. Simply expand each year to look at our timeline of events.

    1999

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    • DSAA was registered as a charity in December 1999 by a joint venture of trustees from Dorset and Somerset Ambulance Service. Seed funding was received from the Government and the Automobile Association.

    • The airbase was established at Henstridge, near Sherborne.

    • The charity operated from a broom cupboard in Taunton Ambulance Station with one fundraiser and one volunteer, eventually moving to a portacabin on this site.

    Published: 28th January, 2020

    Updated: 7th June, 2022

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    2000

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    • The charity started a Society Lottery with an office in Bournemouth Ambulance Station Our first Flight for Life Lottery Draw took place on 19th December  by Jeremy Beadle at the Bournemouth Pavillion Theatre.

    • Our service came online at 8.00am on the 21st March 2000; 52 minutes later we were tasked to our first mission.

    • The charity started a Society Lottery with an office in Bournemouth Ambulance Station. Our first Flight for Life Lottery draw took place on 19th December. This was drawn by Jeremy Beadle while he was in pantomime at the Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre.

    Published: 31st January, 2020

    Updated: 7th June, 2022

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    2000-2006

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    • During this time, we operated a twin-paramedic model of operation which was pretty much the standard of the time and changed very little for many years. The principle was to get to the patient as quickly as possible, carry out an immediate assessment, stabilise them and package them for transportation to hospital.

    • Our crew consisted of two paramedics and a pilot and operated during daylight hours only. During the first three years of operation, our aircraft costs were met by the AA grant and our medical costs were met by the ambulance service.

    Published: 1st February, 2020

    Updated: 7th June, 2022

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    2007

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    • The Bolkow 105 served us well for seven years, but in 2007 we decided to upgrade to a more modern aircraft, the EC135. HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, formerly unveiled our new helicopter at a ceremony held at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton.

    • SWASFT created a permanent Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) desk to cover the south west region. This was the first full-time HEMS desk in the country; today it is funded by the five air ambulance charities it serves.

    Published: 3rd February, 2020

    Updated: 7th June, 2022

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    2008

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    • Geoff Jarvis (owner of Henstridge Airfield) built a purpose-built air ambulance hangar and leased it to the charity for a peppercorn rent.

    • The charity moved to new offices in Wellington.

    Published: 4th February, 2020

    Updated: 7th June, 2022

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    2011

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    • In 2011, we began looking at ways to develop our critical care capability and increased our paramedics to six.

    • Our Lottery office moved to leased offices in Wimborne and we organised our first ever Coast to Coast Cycle Challenge.

    Published: 7th February, 2020

    Updated: 7th June, 2022

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    2013

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    • In 2013, we sponsored a unique, post-graduate education programme for eight paramedics. This was funded by the charity and run in partnership with the University of Hertfordshire, SWASFT and a number of NHS hospital trusts across the region.

    Published: 8th February, 2020

    Updated: 7th June, 2022

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    2015

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    • During our 15th Anniversary year, we began operating a critical care model for 3.5 days a week.

    • Our unique education programme received national recognition when we were awarded a Health Service Journal Award for ‘Improving Outcomes through Learning and Development’.

    Published: 10th February, 2020

    Updated: 7th June, 2022

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    2016

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    • We made the transition to providing a full critical care service for seven days a week. Our team expanded to 10 paramedics and 14 doctors.

    • DSAA announced a collaboration with Dorset County Hospital, Devon Freewheelers, SWASFT and the Henry Surtees Foundation, which resulted in patients being able to receive blood components at the scene of an incident.

    • We officially opened a new clinical training facility, a day/night aviation planning facility, suitable technical storage space and improved crew rest facilities at our Henstridge airbase.

    Published: 11th February, 2020

    Updated: 7th June, 2022

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    2017

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    • On 12th June, DSAA acquired a new AW169 helicopter, in a joint venture with new operator, Specialist Aviation Services, the first
      to enter air ambulance operational service in the UK.

    • We began night operations and extended our operational hours to 19 hours a day: 7.00am – 2.00am.

    Published: 12th February, 2020

    Updated: 7th June, 2022

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    2018

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    • After holding a competition to find a name for our new aircraft, ‘Pegasus’ was unveiled at a ceremony which took place at Leonardo Helicopters in Yeovil.

    • Our clinical team expanded to 14 practitioners and we recruited two part-time Patient and Family Liaison Nurses.

    • The HEMS Desk extended their hours and staff to cover the longer shift in air ambulance operations.

    • The charity purchased our head office building in Wellington.

    Published: 13th February, 2020

    Updated: 7th June, 2022

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    2019

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    • DSAA approved a grant to the South Western Ambulance Service Charity, to support the training and equipping of volunteer community first responder groups within Dorset and Somerset.

    • In April 2019, in addition to the critical care service we provide by helicopter and critical care car, our practitioners took to the road, in a bid to take outreach to a new level. This innovative additional DSAA service operates between the hours of 10.00am until 10.00pm.

    Published: 14th February, 2020

    Updated: 7th June, 2022

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    2020

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    Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance 20 Years By Your Side

    • 2020 marked 20 years since Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance was first launched.
    • Our 20th anniversary year saw us provide an air and road-delivered critical care service 19 hours a day, 365 days a year.
    • A national lockdown commenced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We continued to provide pre-hospital critical care to the region. Our critical care team were operational every single day and night throughout the pandemic.
    • All face-to-face fundraising and events were suspended and we relied on digital/virtual ways to raise funds.

    Published: 11th September, 2022

    Updated: 15th September, 2022

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    2021

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    • The COVID-19 pandemic continued and provided its challenges. Despite this, we maintained complete reliability of our service and our team continued to work hard on each of our strategic clinical challenges.
    • We provided a critical care service for 19 hours per day, every single day throughout the pandemic.
    • Our clinical team produced a video about how they worked during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can watch it here - dsairambulance.org.uk/operations-throughout-covid-19-video
    • Our team provided a COVID-19 critical care transfer service, to safely move patients from NHS hospitals with too many patients, to NHS hospitals with more bed capacity.
    • After nearly a two-year break, our fantastic Coast to Coast Cycle Challenge returned in September and kicked off Air Ambulance Week.
    • We were shortlisted as a finalist in five categories in the Air Ambulances UK Awards of Excellence. DSAA came out as winners in three categories; Doctor of the Year, Innovation of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award and we were highly commended in the other two categories.

    Published: 12th September, 2022

    Updated: 15th September, 2022

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    2022

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    Charles Hackett announced as new CEO

    • Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance launched a new initiative called ‘Blossoming and Blooming Open Gardens’, that aimed to bring together local communities, raise awareness and funds.
    • DSAA were crowned winners in the ‘Charity of the Year’ category at the Somerset Business Awards.
    • Bill Sivewright, our longstanding CEO retired and his successor, Charles Hackett, was appointed as our new CEO.
    • Face-to-face fundraising recommenced and was in full swing during the summer event season! Despite the adverse weather conditions, our Coast to Coast Cycle Challenge went ahead and was a huge success raising £42,100.
    • A new campaign called ‘Saving Lives Together’ was launched by SWASFT and supported by South West Air Ambulance charities including DSAA, with the aim of preventing deaths from cardiac arrests.
    • DSAA launched a new fundraising event called The 5K Twilight Shift, a charity run and walk around Henstridge Airfield.

    Published: 13th September, 2022

    Updated: 27th March, 2023

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    Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales under number 3893356 and registered as a Charity number 1078685

    Registered Office: DSAA, Landacre House, Castle Road, Chelston Business Park, Wellington, Somerset, TA21 9JQ.
    Telephone Number: 01823 669604

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