Essex & Herts Air Ambulance

The Essex Air Ambulance Charity was established and began fundraising in 1997, launching as a dual-paramedic and single-pilot service from New Hall School in Boreham, Essex in July 1998.[4] In 1999, the service began operating seven days a week, during daylight hours, as opposed to the previous five-day service.

In 2003, the Essex Air Ambulance was upgraded to a Eurocopter EC135 T2.[4]

In April 2007, the Essex Air Ambulance charity became known as the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust, responsible for both the Essex and the new Hertfordshire air ambulance services. The Hertfordshire air ambulance was introduced on 5 November 2008.[5] With the launch of the Hertfordshire aircraft, Essex's operational colour stayed as yellow and Hertfordshire gained red – both of which featured on the helicopters G-EHAA and G-HAAT.

Doctors were introduced to the Essex Air Ambulance Air crew in July 2008.[4] This doctor/critical care paramedic model is used on both aircraft at all times. Pre-hospital care doctors could then work alongside specially trained critical care paramedics from the EEAST to optimise patient outcome. Doctors are employed by Mid Essex Hospital NHS Trust, on behalf of EHAAT – except for a team of consultants, who are seconded from some of their hospital work. Paramedics are provided by EEAST. All paramedics are trained to critical care qualification, while doctors have a sub-speciality in Pre-hospital emergency medicine. The team of doctors also included a small number of consultants.[6]

In 2011, The Essex Air Ambulance's operational base moved from Boreham to Earls Colne Airfield and the charity head office and Essex fundraising team moved to Earls Colne Business Park in March 2015.[4]

In March 2017, to coincide with the charity's 20 year anniversary, a new brand was launched which unified Essex and Hertfordshire's previously separate identities to signify the united future of the charity.[4]

Essex & Herts Air Ambulance (EHAAT) provides Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) seven days a week, from 7 am until 8 pm. The charity operates two helicopters, a MD 902 Explorer based at Earls Colne airfield and an AgustaWestland AW169 at North Weald airfield.

During the hours of darkness an EHAAT Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) based at North Weald is used from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am. RRVs are also operational for the hours where the aircraft is unable to fly in bad weather or maintenance.

From October 2019, the critical care team became available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This was the first time in the charity’s 21-year history that was able to provide a fully 24/7 service to the people of Essex, Hertfordshire and the surrounding areas.

Each HEMS team consists of a pilot, co-pilot, a pre-hospital care doctor and a critical care paramedic, who can quickly attend the scene of an incident with life-saving support equipment to deliver advanced clinical care that is normally only found in the hospital emergency department. The dual-pilot scheme was introduced in 2016 to enhance patient care,[4] as previously the paramedic would act as navigator, aiding the pilot.

EHAAT works in partnership with the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) who monitor incoming 999 calls and, according to clinical need, dispatch the critical care team from the critical care desk based in the emergency operation centre (EOC) at Broomfield Hospital. The desk is manned by a critical care paramedic and a dispatcher to ensure appropriate tasking.[7]

The helicopters take off within two minutes of the emergency call being received at the airbase. The helicopter based at Earls Colne can reach the farthest point in Essex in less than 20 minutes and the helicopter based at North Weald can reach the farthest point in Hertfordshire in less than 15 minutes. Once a patient is stabilised the HEMS team will triage patients to the most appropriate hospital if they require specialist care, such as a major trauma centre. This saves time between onset of illness or time of accident to the patient receiving specialist medical care in hospital. The helicopters and RRVs can also carry cutting edge life-saving medical equipment and drugs, much of which will not be found on standard land ambulances – along with the specially trained doctor in pre-hospital emergency medicine, who can perform life-saving open heart surgery and general anaesthesia at the roadside.[8]

G-HHEM landing at its launch event in 2017.

G-EHEM landing in Harwich, Essex at the Charity's Motorcycle Run event.

G-SSXX: operated between 2003 and 2010

G-HAAT: operated between 2008 and 2017

G-EHAA: operated between 2010 and 2017

Essex & Herts Air Ambulance utilises two helicopters and four rapid response cars to transport their pre-hospital care teams. Both current helicopters entered service in August 2017. The helicopters have the ability to access remote parts of Essex and Hertfordshire quickly, unaffected by road traffic congestions. The helicopters can also reach areas inaccessible to land vehicles including woods, beaches, docks and golf courses.

In the year ended March 2021, EHAAT's income was £17.5 million, including £1.9M of government grants, against expenditure of £11.3M, of which £7.4M was spent on delivering the emergency service.[2]

This charity is one of many pre-hospital care providers in the East of England region, which has an established trauma network – the first to be fully operational in the UK after the London Trauma Network.

Other pre-hospital care providers that they work and train alongside are:

• BASICS Essex Accident Rescue Service (BEARS) [1]
• BASICS Hertfordshire [2]
• Suffolk Accident Rescue Service (SARS)
• Magpas Air Ambulance
• East Anglian Air Ambulance

The East of England teams commonly end up working alongside crews from Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance, London's Air Ambulance and The Air Ambulance Service, along with other BASICS charities.

• Air ambulances in the United Kingdom

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Essex & Herts Air Ambulance.

• Official website
• "Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust, registered charity no. 1108989". Charity Commission for England and Wales.