The Children’s Air Ambulance are a national charity that provide an emergency paediatric and neonatal transfer service to children throughout England. The charity flew its first mission in December 2012 and in May 2013 transferred their first baby when little Theo needed emergency surgery. Theo has since made a full recovery and The Children’s Air Ambulance are very proud of the part they played in this.
In 2014, The Children’s Air Ambulance made its 100th transfer and airlifted their first teenager this year. Since then the charity has gone from strength to strength and has now flown over 200 critical transfers of children throughout England from missions in Newcastle down to Southampton. They will fly from anywhere in the country from their base in Coventry but can only currently help 1 in 3 children that need the service.
In 2016, The Air Ambulance Service – which is the charity that runs TCAA – announced that they had signed a 7-year lease to double their fleet to two helicopters. This will mean that the charity can increase the number of missions they fly and will relocate their fleet to a site in the north and south of England to ensure they can reach any hospital such as Alder Hey or Evelina Children’s Hospital in London within 25 minutes. These exciting plans were announced in September and the two new helicopters are expected to land in the country in Autumn 2017.
The charity currently work alongside seven specialist NHS transfer teams and exciting times lie ahead for the charity.