Support Your
Midlands Air Ambulance Charity
The HELP Appeal has granted £1.8 million to Midlands Air Ambulance Charity which will fund the redevelopment of its Strensham airbase on the Worcestershire / Gloucestershire border. The redevelopment will include a new hangar replacing the existing one which is over 20 years old.
Based in the Midlands, the HELP Appeal, operated by County Air Ambulance Trust (CAAT), is the only charity in the country dedicated to funding helipads at hospitals and at air ambulance airbases across the country. Such is the HELP Appeal’s long-standing commitment to the region, this is the third time that it has funded the Strensham air base – first when it opened and again in 2010.
During the refurbishment work, the helicopter will be temporarily located at Babcock’s operating base in nearby Staverton in Gloucestershire, allowing full operational capability to be maintained, and ensuring the security of the aircraft whilst the building work is completed. The airbase itself will continue to be operational throughout, providing support facilities for the clinicians and the charity’s fleet of critical care cars.
Midlands Air Ambulance Charity has now attended more than 75,000 missions across Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, the West Midlands, and Worcestershire, and continues to be the busiest air ambulance in England.
Julian Spiers, Midlands Air Ambulance Charity’s clinical operations manager for Strensham, said: “As you can imagine, during any refurbishment work there will be a lot of disruption. The temporary move to Staverton ensures our helicopter and critical care teams will continue to be available for lifesaving missions in the region whenever required.”
Hanna Sebright, chief executive of Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, said: “We are sincerely grateful to the HELP Appeal for its continued support and for funding the necessary remedial work at Strensham Airbase. Strensham is our primary southern operating airbase, within 10 minutes flight time of critically ill or injured patients in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and surrounding areas. In January 2024 Midlands Air Ambulance hours of operations extended to 24/7, 365 days a year. The redevelopment of our Strensham airbase will futureproof our life saving service across our southern counties, improving organisational resilience and the long term sustainability of our pre-hospital emergency critical care service.”
Robert Bertram, chief executive for the HELP Appeal added: “We are delighted to support Midlands Air Ambulance Charity’s airbase at Strensham. The importance of airbases can be often forgotten about in emergency care, but if air ambulances can’t land and take off safely or quickly from their airbase, patients’ lives could be put at serious risk. This is why we have donated £1,800,000 in total to ensure MAAC’s airbase helipads – from Shifnal to Strensham – are fit for purpose.”
To find out more about Midlands Air Ambulance Charity’s lifesaving work, visit the website and follow the organisation on social media. For further details about the County Air Ambulance Trust and the HELP Appeal, visit countyairambulancetrust.co.uk and www.helpappeal.org.uk