Picture: London’s Air Ambulance

• AS I come to the end of my first 60 days as CEO of London’s Air Ambulance, I would like to emphasise the importance of local support to our charity and share some words of thanks with the people of Camden.

It’s a great feeling when you find out a company has donated a large sum of money to the charity, but it is vital to never lose sight of our grass-root supporters.

To me, a local cake sale is just as important as a big corporate partnership. This charity was built on community spirit; it’s a service funded by the people of London for the people of London and that’s something I really want to focus on during my time as CEO.

The money raised by communities goes towards delivering our advanced trauma team by helicopter or rapid response car to critically injured people across the capital and it’s thanks to your help that London’s Air Ambulance was able to treat 44 people in Camden last year.

Now we need your help again to raise awareness of our charity status.

While eight out of 10 people have heard of the London’s Air Ambulance service, around two-thirds of people in London are not sure or don’t think that London’s Air Ambulance is a charity.

This is a massive hurdle to overcome as we try to gain more support and may be explained by the fact that, on average, people believe 47 per cent of our funding comes from either the NHS, central government or local government. In reality, we receive the majority of our income from public donations.

People also believe we exist to transport people to hospital or from hard to access areas when, in fact, we deliver a doctor and paramedic to a patient’s side to deliver treatment only usually found in a hospital emergency department. This includes open chest surgery, anaesthesia, blood transfusions and advanced pain relief.

Over the last few years the charity has focused on acquiring a second helicopter and securing extended daylight flying hours. With these aims achieved we will now focus on the challenge of increasing awareness of our charitable status.

It is the work you do promoting, fundraising or volunteering in your local community that helps spread the message that we rely on public donations. Together, I know we can carry on helping critically injured people in London.

Finally, I would like to say a huge thank you for everything you have already done for London’s Air Ambulance. It is down to you that we have treated more than 36,000 patients in our 28 years of service and your continued support will help us save lives long into the future.

JONATHAN JENKINS
Chief executive Officer
London’s Air Ambulance