£10 million for nine air ambulance charities

The Department of Health and Social Care has announced that nine air ambulance charities across England will receive a share of £10 million funding.

The funding means air ambulance charities will benefit from new equipment and improved facilities, including: modernised operational facilities at seven airbases; a new state-of-the-art helicopter for Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust; seven critical care cars with medical equipment; and immersive interactive training suites to better prepare crews for challenging conditions.

The nine charities that will receive funding are: East Anglian Air Ambulance; Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust; London’s Air Ambulance; Essex and Herts Air Ambulance Trust; Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance Charitable Trust; Great Western Air Ambulance Charity; Devon Air Ambulance Trust; MAGPAS Air Ambulance; and Midlands Air Ambulance Charity.

Air ambulance critical emergency services are not funded by the NHS. Although they receive some support from NHS ambulance services which provide them with clinical staff and equipment, vital charitable donations from the public cover the costs of keeping services running.

Health Minister Stephen Hammond said: “Air ambulance crews work under extreme pressure in situations where every second counts. This one-off funding to help provide world-class facilities and equipment recognises the integral role they play in our health service. Air ambulance charities rely heavily on generous donations from members of the public and typical fundraising activities for their life-saving work and they deserve our enormous gratitude.”

The UK's 18 air ambulances had been invited to bid for the funding in February.