Spotlight on the South West Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) Dispatch Team

When an air ambulance in the South West is deployed, the race to save a life has already begun. At the heart of this rapid response is the HEMS Dispatch Team - one of the first points of contact in identifying patients in need of enhanced and critical care across the entire region and responsible for coordinating our life-saving response. Let’s find out the impact of their vital work…

Who are the HEMS Dispatch Team?

Based within the Emergency Operations Centre of the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWAST), the HEMS Dispatch Team is responsible for identifying patients in need of enhanced and critical care across the entire South West region.

These 12 NHS employees are governed by the NHS and funded by five air ambulance charities: 

  • Cornwall Air Ambulance
  • Devon Air Ambulance
  • Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance
  • Great Western Air Ambulance
  • Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance

Their work is a fundamental part of both the ambulance service and each charity’s clinical operation, without which, critical care could not be delivered consistently across the region.

What do they do?

The HEMS dispatch team cover the entire South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust’s area:

  • Formerly Avon (Bristol, North Somerset including Bath, and South Gloucestershire),
  • Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
  • Devon
  • Dorset
  • Gloucestershire
  • Somerset
  • Wiltshire

Working between the hours of 0700 and 0300 every day of the year, the team monitor stacks of 999 calls, listen in real time, and use both triage information and their own expertise to determine whether a patient requires specialist care. On any given day, they may be juggling several incidents at once, coordinating multiple specialist resources with unwavering focus and precision.

Despite not being at the physical scene, their exposure to serious incidents is significant. Yet their resilience, insight, and deep sense of responsibility for patient outcomes is evident in every shift. They routinely identify those in greatest need and ensure the swift deployment of critical care assets, all while maintaining calm, effective oversight of resource availability and regional coverage.

Over the past year alone, the Hems Dispatch Team have enabled air ambulance enhanced and critical care teams in the South West to reach more than 6,000 patients by air and road.

Their work is one of the most challenging roles in the emergency medical system; co-ordinating the activities of six or more clinical teams, with prolonged and repeated exposure to tragic situations from a different angle to clinicians.

Their impact

Increasing the number of patients reached

Over the past 12 months, the HEMS Dispatch Team have taken on a significantly increased workload to support and manage the expansion of critical care teams across the South West.

By integrating a greater number of car-based services and volunteer responders into their dispatch model, they have enabled the region’s air ambulances to reach and treat 215 more patients, compared to the previous year (SWAST critical care data).

Strengthening collaboration

The team have played a vital role in strengthening collaboration across the South West HEMS network through:

  • Active participation in regional training and governance days
  • Encouraging cross‑fertilisation of ideas
  • Enhancing mutual trust 
  • Improving early recognition of patients who may benefit from critical care

Supporting regional air ambulances fundraising efforts

HEMS team members have also supported fundraising efforts in their own time, including events such as the ‘Twilight Shift’ and ‘Coast to Coast Cycle Challenge’ for DSAA. Their willingness to contribute beyond their roles demonstrates their belief in the delivery of enhanced and critical care.

Glastonbury festival from air ambulance helicopter

Innovating for patient benefit 

Last year, the HEMS dispatch team demonstrated exceptional flexibility and dedication by extending their shift pattern from 20 to 24 hours a day.

This supported DSAA’s delivery of round-the-clock critical care provision during the Glastonbury Festival week. The region wide advocacy that this enabled was life changing for patients across the South West, as critically injured patients from each of the counties were recognised by the team and successful care was provided during the very early hours of the morning; a time when HEMS services are not usually available.

The positivity with which this innovation was embraced by the team was inspirational and enabled a clear view of the regional patient need across the 24-hour clock. Their vital role in enabling equitable delivery to patient care across the region was unmistakably reaffirmed.

What inspires the team

Speaking on behalf of the team, HEMS Deployment Officer, Kelly Vallance said:

“What drives our team is knowing we play a vital part in giving the sickest patients a second chance at life. The close collaboration between dispatchers, doctors, practitioners and pilots, creates an incredible environment of trust and teamwork. For us, working shoulder‑to‑shoulder with these highly skilled professionals and seeing the direct, positive impact on patient outcomes is profoundly rewarding.”

Thank you

A huge thank you to the team for their extraordinary contribution to patient care, not only across the counties of Dorset and Somerset, but across the South West region. 

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