Clinical Update: Year on Year Contributions

Year on year, our service contributes to the life journeys of thousands of patients. Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance (DSAA) is tasked to incidents by a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) specialist tasking team, based in the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust’s (SWAST) dispatch centre. The core work of our service is pre-hospital critical care and enhanced care. This is care that the NHS does not currently provide and would not otherwise be available to the people of our two counties and beyond.

Mission Statistics and Growth

Over the last year, we have once again seen an increase in the number of patients needing our service, being tasked to 2,909 missions. This is an increase of nearly 500 from the previous year. 1,397 of these missions were activation of our critical care team (doctor and specialist practitioner) by helicopter, or occasionally by car, and 1,512 missions were activation of our specialist practitioners who provide enhanced care via our two Outreach cars; one based in Dorset and one in Somerset.

Types of Incidents Attended

The type of incidents that DSAA was tasked to last year was broadly similar to previous years: 47% trauma, 21% cardiac, 31% medical, and 1% time-critical interhospital transfers. The hospital transfers are from local hospitals to regional specialist hospitals for the sickest of adults and children.

Provision of Blood Products

Over the year, DSAA also provided blood products to 60 patients at scene or during their transfer to hospital.

The Impact on Patients and Families

Year on year, DSAA contributes to the life journeys of thousands of patients. Many of these are so severely injured or ill that they do not recall the events after their incident. Some also endure enormous physical and mental challenges, and at times, they do not feel that they have sufficient information about their care, or access to help. Sadly, we also attend incidents in which patients do not survive and their remaining families often have important questions about the care they received in the pre-hospital environment.

Introduction of the Patient and Family Liaison Service

In the latter part of 2018, we started providing a patient and family liaison service and appointed two very experienced intensive care nurses on a part-time basis; it was the first of its kind in the south west. In 2022, with evidence of the impact that their work had on patients and their families, we expanded the team to five. The work of our patient and family liaison team cannot be underestimated. They provide support to those who have been treated by our crew to help them make sense of their life experiences, answer questions about a patient’s pre-hospital care, provide links with support services and other charities aligned with a patient’s condition, and encourage peer support links with others who have similar injuries or conditions.

Patient Testimonials and Impact

In this edition of Beeline, you will hear from some of those who have experienced our service first-hand, many of whom have depended on our patient and family liaison team, often at the worst time of their lives.

Our thanks go out to them and we hope it shows how your support is making such a difference to people’s lives.