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Midlands Air Ambulance Charity
Midlands Air Ambulance Charity is responsible for funding and operating three air ambulance helicopters and critical care cars serving the communities of six Midlands counties: Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, the West Midlands and Worcestershire. This constitutes the largest air ambulance operating region in the UK.
Each car is manned by a critical care paramedic, who attends cardiac arrests, heart attacks, sepsis and respiratory issues.
Since 1991, the charity has responded to more than 78,000 missions averaging 4,500 per year, making it one of the longest established and busiest air ambulance organisations in the UK.
The charity's minimum crew consists of one pilot, one CCP/TCM and either a second CCP or Doctor. We regularly have a fourth team member undergoing training.
Operating from strategically located regional airbases - Shinfal in Shropshire, Tatenhill airfield in Staffordshire and Strensham Services on the M5 in Worcestershire, 90 per cent of the region is within reach within ten minutes.
Midlands Air Ambulance Charity (MAAC) is an independent charity and healthcare provider that is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The aim of the CQC is to ensure patients can expect to receive the essential standards of quality while being treated by the MAAC team in the pre-hospital environment. At present, MAAC is waiting for its first CQC rating, which will be displayed publicly once received.
Critical Care Paramedics (CCP) / Technical Crew Members (TCM) - our CCP/TCM's have all started their careers and gained significant experience as paramedics within the NHS ambulance service. As part of their professional development, they are required to complete a post graduate certificate (many have continued to complete a full Masters). Within Midlands Air Ambulance Charity they have an extended scope of practice above and beyond that of a normal NHS paramedic. Our CCP's are able to administer additional medications and perform surgical procedures to enhance patient care leading to more favourable outcomes and better patient experience. They role as technical crew members is to support and assist the pilots in aspects of aviation and navigation to ensure safe flights and landings at our ad hoc HEMS landing sites.
Doctors - we employ doctors on a part-time basis, the majority of which hold consultant posts in either emergency medicine or anaesthetics and many holding the sub speciality of Pre Hospital Emergency Medicine (PHEM) and have completed the Fellowship of Immediate Medical Care (FIMC) through the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh. Midlands Air Ambulance Charity doctors bring valuable hospital and prehospital experience along with the ability to administer further medications and deliver more procedures to ultimately provide the highest level of care possible for the patients we serve.
Pilots & engineers - our aviation partners, Babcock Mission Critical Services provide 6 dedicated base pilots to MAAC and 2 dedicated aircraft engineers, supported by further central resources to ensure we maintain our 7-day lifesaving service. Our base pilots come from a mixture of military backgrounds and civilian training, with a wealth of flying experience. Our 2 engineers, whilst not directly employed, are two of the longest serving members of the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity team and have provided in excess of 60 years service in keeping our crew safe in our fleet of helicopters.
Fellows / PHEM - Midlands Air Ambulance Charity has been active in supporting the training and education of doctors in PHEM, and has ongoing aspirations to continue to play an active role in the development of doctors within the PHEM area.
Support Team - the clinical team are directly supported by a number of staff including a Clinical Administrator, Clinical Logistics Manager and Clinical Scheduling Coordinator. These roles are crucial to the efficient and effective running of the clinical operation. Also fundamental to maintaining our service are our staff in our finance, HR, Marketing and Comms, and fundraising teams as well as a large team of volunteers.
Kit Bags & Equipment - we carry all equipment that you would find on a typical land ambulance including monitors and defibrillators. Our monitors have additional capabilities to enable us to provide external pacing and synchronised cardioversion. We also carry a LUCAS mechanical CPR device on all of our resources, which frees up resources when dealing with cardiac arrests. In addition, we carry a variety of surgical equipment and a large range of medication, along with blood products.
