BLOG

We had the honour of visiting the Kent Sussex Surrey Air Ambulance HQ today in Redhill, where some of our team that completed the Three Peaks Challenge got to see first hand the amazing work that the air ambulance does in saving lives.

For one of our team Tom, it was also an opportunity to thank them for the services that they carried out after becoming injured and the speed of the response, combined with the rapid flying time to Kings Hospital, London that ultimately saved his life!

Their call out statistics are simply staggering for a charity run organisation that depends on the generous support of the public to keep them flying. During 2023 they completed 3328 call out requests flying round the clock 24/7, 365 days a year.

Type of callouts vary greatly as well:

• RTA – 28%Medical
• Emergency 28%
• Accidental Injury 20%
• Assault 9%
• Intentional Self-harm 8%
• Other 7%

With a coverage of some 3000 square miles of operation they responded to call outs across the three counties:

• Kent 42%Surrey 25%
• West Sussex 16%
• East Sussex 13%
• Other 4%

Let’s not forget that these are multi-million-pound pieces of engineering excellence, staffed by some of the most experienced pilots, doctors and paramedics with years of hands on experience within the medical emergency sector.

Our team got to see first hand the confined space that they have to work in within the helicopter usually whilst in is in flight, plus they got a very brief insight into some of the procedures that are carried out at the accident site, usually not in the best of weathers, or even at night, whilst remaining calm and professional under what must be in some cases some very horrific accidents.

Our medical skills also got put to the test, which as you can imagine was quite comical. Whilst we and the amazing paramedic that demonstrated the procedure made light of our failings he certainly bought it home to us all that out in the field they are completing these procedures within seconds to save someone’s life, humbling indeed.

Our tour of their facility at Redhill was also very enlightening, with state-of-the-art simulation rooms so that the doctors and paramedics can continuously train and hone their skills to absolute perfection.

Getting to see the air ambulance coming into land after it’s daily testing was also something quite remarkable to witness, the skill of these pilots to land a piece of machinery weighing several tonnes would, we are sure, put many peoples daily parking to shame.

We had the opportunity to get up and close and personnel with one of the helicopters, however, this was cut short as an emergency call out came through, so we witnessed the speed and precision that the team on board handled the situation and were airborne within minutes of the call coming in.

Of course, the British weather cannot be relied on to be perfect every day, and there are occasions when the flying operations are grounded, and the air ambulance teams must respond in their highly equipped ambulances which are kitted out to the same exacting standards as the helicopters.

None of the team could have imagined the work that goes on behind the scenes as well, from meticulously clean storage rooms to decontamination facilities, along with staff welfare areas, gym, operations rooms, briefing rooms and more.

We’d like to thank Lola Inge from KSS for the invitation and to all the team at Redhill HQ for the information imparted to us.

On average it costs £4100 each time they are called out on a mission, the fuel bill alone would keep many of us going for some weeks! If you have the opportunity to donate to KSS then please do so, who knows, the next life they could save could be yours!

They currently have some London to Brighton Cycle Ride FREE places. Please share with keen cyclists – colleagues/friends/family:

• FREE places in London to Brighton Cycle RideSunday 15 September
• 55-miles from London to Brighton
• £300 pledge (which could help fuel the helicopter to get to someone in urgent need)
• Registration deadline is 16 Aug so secure your place!

AW Group is a multi-disciplined construction company providing a broad range of support and manpower across building and rail projects.

Our Fields are:

AW Construction – We offer an outstanding UK-wide fit out service, taking care of everything from scheduling rollouts & ordering materials to assistance with design and onsite delivery

AW Rail – We use the very best labour force and a proactive approach to deliver first-class construction and maintenance projects across the rail industry

AW Labour – We provide a high-calibre blue collar and white-collar workforce with a diverse range of skills, to support the construction and rail industries