Our annual Foundation Dinner was held in February 2025 with a guest speaker from Yorkshire Air Ambulance, Helen Murray-Sharpe. this was her 50th presentation for the charity and she gave a very interesting insight into how this worthwhile service operates.
She told us that back in 2016 they were able to buy two helicopters. Previous to this they had loaned the helicopters but it was becoming too costly to carry on.
In 2017 they started carrying Oneg blood so that they could treat patients at the scene and in 2019 they moved to Nostell Priory with special training facilities and sleeping quarters etc.
In 2022 they were able to buy two new helicopters with a 5th blade, giving a smoother ride for the patients and just two years later in 2024 they were able to buy a third to be used when another was being serviced.
Because Yorkshire is such a large county the decision was made to provide another base in Topcliffe which has meant that virtually anyone can be transported to a major hospital in 20 minutes ie LGI, Hull or Sheffield.
The cost of keeping the service going is £9,000 per day. This incredible figure is met by using volunteers, sponsorships, individual donations their small shop and legacies. They also have recycling centres – look out for the yellow receptacles on car parks etc which receive bagged clothes, shoes and textiles.
The staff who man the helicopters consist of a pilot, who has usually had a military background, a Technical crew, seconded by the Ambulance Trust, a medic seconded for 1 day a week from a hospital and nursing staff. There is a simulator suite at Nostell which helps with training making sure that the skilled crew can be up in the air within 4 minutes. Also they have two rapid response vehicles which can help ambulance crews locally.
Finally, Helen advised everyone to have the ‘What three words’ app on their phones, enabling the helicopter to find their patients where ever they are.
