CEO’s statement, Jonathan Jenkins, Chief Executive Officer
Supporting our patients
Being there for London
Progress updates
Finance update
The year in highlights
We’re a unique team of expert doctors, paramedics and pilots who are dedicated to providing London with world-class medical care when a life is on the line.
Based at The Royal London Hospital and founded in 1989, we can get there in time to make a difference thanks to our fleet of helicopters and rapid response cars, which deliver our expert medics to a patient’s side within minutes of injury, at any time of day or night. We have treated over 50,000 critically injured patients since our inception.
On average we attend to six critically injured people in the capital a day and have been involved in the emergency medical response to the majority of major incidents in London over the past 36 years.
We work in partnership with Barts Health and London Ambulance Service (LAS) and we’re proud to be a charity. Funded by the people of London, we can be there for the city, today, tomorrow and always.
A STATEMENT FROM BOB FORSYTH, CHAIR OF TRUSTEES
Through its 36-year history, the charity has worked hard to provide the best possible care for Londoners. In 2024/25 we sought to protect and extend that outstanding heritage, bringing into service two new Airbus EC135T3 helicopters that will provide the platform for us to serve London for the next 15 years. At the same time, a new fleet of Volvo XC90 cars will support our 24/7 service.
To make all this possible required a donor base that is both generous and courageous to support our Up Against Time appeal. From our first cornerstone donor and our community supporters, to our 120,000 regular givers, there have been thousands of individuals and organisations that stepped up to make sure that London maintains this critical emergency service. Thank you all.
I would also like to thank the multi-organisational team who leant in to make the appeal successful, whilst still providing our 24-hour emergency service, including Barts Health NHS Trust (Barts Health), LAS, the Philanthropy Board, our media partners and outlets, our charity team, our volunteers and our patron, HRH The Prince of Wales. And of course, my fellow trustees.
We now look forward with a 15-year strategy, ‘Hope Across London’, to develop our clinical offering to help more people with more interventions. The demand for such care in our capital continues to rise, with our missions up 20% over the last calendar year.
There has never been a more important time for us all to build the resilience and reach of this vital service.
A STATEMENT FROM JONATHAN JENKINS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
In my eight years at the helm of London’s only helicopter emergency medical service, I’ve experienced some extraordinary moments for our charity. But the last year left me the proudest I’ve ever been.
We moved at a relentless pace to reach our Up Against Time appeal fundraising target of £15 million. During the final push we secured the support of Omaze, of A-lister (and Londoner) David Beckham and of multiple funders so we could purchase two new helicopters that will secure this essential service for London for many years to come.
Our aviation team have worked tirelessly to get trained, introduce new processes and systems and make sure there has been a seamless transition to this new era.
But the highlights didn’t end there. We welcomed the new aircraft into service with a launch in front of the world’s media, with our patron HRH The Prince of Wales front and centre. His constant support continues to further our opportunities and drive us to new ambitions. We had another incredible series of events, from our annual abseil off the helipad to over 200 runners hitting the streets of London for us. Our annual Big City Collection saw hundreds of supporters, volunteers and staff cover the city in red, raising thousands in the process. We also for the first time held a carol concert in the magnificent St Paul’s Cathedral – our chance to say thank you to London for supporting our cause.
Whilst our larger donations and bigger events often steal headlines, we never forget the efforts of those who put on smaller fundraisers, who display such commitment and true passion for what we do. From regular supporters to major donors, from lottery players to corporate partners, the rich tapestry of support we are lucky enough to count on makes a true difference to our work.
That work is so important because traumatic injury is the biggest killer of people under the age of 40 in the UK. Indeed in 2024, there were on average six people who needed our help, every single day in London. The incredible clinical teams perform complex medical procedures to save lives where others can’t – and to demonstrate our essential need, in 2024 the number of patients we treated increased to record levels. We continued to share stories from those we have attended – and their families – to help raise awareness of the impact of trauma and how our teams work to make a difference.
That is what keeps us striving to do more. Our new helicopters have futureproofed our service, but we had to look to the next step. This year we launched our new strategy, Hope Across London. This outlines our ambitious aims for the next 15 years, from clinical innovations to vital investment that will help us be there for the patient of tomorrow. This will all require hard work from every aspect of the service, but we are inspired by our new vision to bring hope to every one of our patients across London, when they need us most, where they need us most. Alongside our emergency service partners, Barts Health and LAS, we commit to our mission to use everything we know, our specialist skills and unmatched experience to save lives and ensure the best outcomes for every one of our patients and their families.
Thanks to you, wherever and whenever our clinical and operational crews are needed, they can be there via helicopter or rapid response car. I’d also like to echo Bob’s thanks to all our partners, and especially to colleagues and volunteers. Thanks to their hard work, we are here for London, and here for you, today, tomorrow and always.
SUPPORTING OUR PATIENTS
In July 2020, Jim was cycling in Catford, training for the British Triathlon Championship when a large lorry pushed him off the road.
“I was flipped underneath it,” recalled Jim, “and dragged up the road for 80m. A motorcyclist flagged the lorry down and once we were stationary, I put my hand down. But the truck started moving again and my right arm went under the back wheels.
“I knew instantly I had lost the arm. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t move – some of my arm was still trapped under the wheel. I accepted it was a bad day and that I was probably going to die. The pain was so extreme I couldn’t even define it.”
Given the nature of the incident, our advanced trauma team was dispatched within two minutes of the 999 call. On arrival, our team quickly administered Jim ketamine which is a strong and fast-acting painkiller. He had suspected collapsed lungs caused by broken ribs, suspected intra-abdominal bleeding and a complete amputation of his right arm.
A blood transfusion was given, alongside a roadside general anaesthetic. The team performed surgical procedures to Jim’s chest to release the trapped air that was causing his lungs to collapse. These are life-saving procedures only our crew can perform on scene in London.
“LONDON’S AIR AMBULANCE SAVED MY LIFE. THANKS TO THE FUNDRAISING EFFORTS OF ALL THE PEOPLE OF BRITAIN, WE HAVE A NEW FLEET THAT WILL SAVE OTHER PEOPLE’S LIVES.”
regularly. In 2021, just a year after his incident he competed in the British Paratriathlon Championships and came third. In 2024, he did his first marathon, running the full distance in under three hours 30 minutes.
“As far as London’s Air Ambulance goes, I am very aware that if it had taken any longer to get that hospital treatment at the roadside, I would have died.
“London’s Air Ambulance saved my life. Thanks to the fundraising efforts of all the people of Britain, we have a new fleet that will save other people’s lives.”
Your support helps us continue to be there for patients like Jim each day in the capital.
Our purpose is to bring hope across London – providing London’s critically injured with complex medical care on scene. We’re operational 24/7, 365 days a year and we can reach our patients wherever and whenever they need us, with the ability to be anywhere within the M25 in 11 minutes.
In the financial year 2024/25, our team treated 1,996 seriously injured patients, bringing the total number of patients helped since 1989 to over 50,000.
BOROUGHS WERE:
+ WESTMINSTER TOWER HAMLETS
*includes rail incidents, industrial accidents and drownings.
Every one of our missions has the potential to have an enormous impact on the future of the patient, their family and their wider community. We use our clinical expertise, knowledge and experience to give our critically injured patients the best possible outcome following trauma.
PROGRESS UPDATES FROM ACROSS THE CHARITY
OUR NEW HELICOPTERS
At the start of October 2024, we celebrated the arrival of our two new Airbus H135 helicopters, marking the conclusion of our Up Against Time appeal, which surpassed the £15 million target by £1 million. This was the largest-ever fundraising campaign in our history.
The majority of this income was generated through our philanthropy, partnerships and special events programmes, with cornerstone support from London Freemasons, along with key support from Julia and Hans Rausing, Global and a partnership with Omaze. Over the lifetime of the appeal, we received gifts from 290 donors towards the new helicopters and the initial fleet maintenance costs.
These state-of-the-art aircraft, G-LAAA and G-LAAB, enhance our capabilities and ensure that we’ll remain at the forefront of pre-hospital care. Our pilots and crews have been through specific conversion training (from one helicopter to another) and we’ve updated the equipment and bags used by the clinicians to better fit the aircraft interior and patient needs.
ENDOVASCULAR CARDIAC ARREST TEAM (ECAT)
Every year in London, LAS treats 4,500 patients who have had a cardiac arrest. Less than 10% of these patients survive and those that do may suffer permanent brain damage. Studies show that an intervention called ExtraCorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) – a type of heart and lung bypass – can significantly improve survival to over 40% if it is delivered within 60 minutes of a patient collapsing.
We’ve therefore launched a new ECAT team with ECMO capability, dispatched by helicopter or rapid response car. We’re uniquely placed to bring ECMO to a patient’s side, wherever they might be in London, and have a track record of pioneering new procedures pre-hospital to save more lives.
From February 2025, we’ve started a 12-month service evaluation leading an ECMO service approximately one day a week, delivered in partnership with LAS and Barts Health.
The ECAT project builds upon the successful SUB30 study, which demonstrated ECMO to be feasible and safe when used in the pre-hospital setting. This advanced life support technique will help pave the way for the establishment of a permanent pan-London ECMO service, to improve survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
We’re incredibly grateful to Barts Charity, Jude Morris Innovation and Development Fund and the Geoff & Fiona Squire Foundation, whose support in previous years and in 2024/25 funded the service evaluation.
HUMAN PERFORMANCE PROGRAMME
We’ve embarked on a human performance programme, which is a systematic approach to improving how our HEMS teams deliver operational excellence. Launched in January 2025, it brings together approaches from psychology, human factors and operational practice to help reduce both internal and external factors that interfere with optimum performance.
Upon completion of a three month pilot scheme with Elevate-Performance, we aim to develop a continuous support programme, to best aid our crews and maximise our impact in trauma care.
SWIFT TRIAL
The Study of Whole blood In Frontline Trauma (SWIFT) trial, which began in December 2022, and is led by a London’s Air Ambulance consultant, closed three months ahead of schedule in October 2024 due to the success of the patient recruitment phase. The trial has since moved into the analysis phase, to review whether whole blood transfusion can provide better outcomes for patients with life-threatening injuries.
THE INSTITUTE OF PRE-HOSPITAL CARE
The Institute is the training and education department of London’s Air Ambulance Charity, training our own clinical teams and other global clinicians.
Our two degree programmes are run in partnership with QMUL, Barts Health and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. We had 15 MSc students and 15 BSc students begin their studies in the 2024/25 academic year. Both programmes attended two symposiums: a Toxicology Symposium and the Resuscitation Science Symposium, which took place at the Royal College of Pathologists over two days in January, with 100 attendees on each day.
PHYSICIAN RESPONSE UNIT (PRU)
We continue to facilitate the PRU to provide care for patients every day through the provision of Community Emergency Medicine. In the financial year 2024/25, the PRU treated 3,051 patients (3,816 in 2023/24), of whom 70% were managed in the community rather than being conveyed to hospital via an ambulance (2023/24 73%). Dispatched in an emergency response car, the team attends to on average eight patients per day.
As previously determined, we’ll continue to support the PRU operationally and financially until the end of March 2026, with discussions ongoing with the NHS around the future model.
CLINICAL AND OPERATIONAL DATA
The past year saw the team expand to include a Technical Business Analyst. We continued to build on operational efficiencies as part of our digital strategy, launching a fuel-tracking app for the aircraft and an app for signing-off observers on shifts. We also delivered the digital checklist and equipment tracking component for the change to the new helicopters and finalised a Data Sharing Agreement between Barts Health and Imperial NHS Trust to facilitate easier access to patient follow-up data from St Mary’s Hospital.
RESEARCH
We’re continually working to build and advance a culture of inquiry across all aspects of the organisation. Members of our team from multiple disciplines participate in research and quality improvement projects to improve the care we provide to patients, explore new therapies and advance pre-hospital care. Our priority areas for research are the physiology and pathophysiology of major trauma (i.e. better understanding of specific traumatic injuries and how they progress), interventions in early injury and critical illness, translation of in-hospital treatments to pre-hospital care, and pathway/process improvements.
The charity is developing a research infrastructure to enhance these initiatives and is partnering with universities, particularly the Centre for Trauma Sciences at QMUL. Authors from London’s Air Ambulance have continued to lead the UK community in pre-hospital publications, receiving widespread attention in the world’s emergency medical community.
FINANCE UPDATE
THE COST TO DELIVER OUR SERVICE
In 2024/25 it cost £14.2 million to run our vital service, which is a decrease of £2.6 million in comparison to 2023/24. This cost went down as we paused some of our fundraising following the conclusion of our helicopter appeal. We’ll continue to invest in new fundraising streams as we focus on delivering our new strategy, so this figure is likely to rise again in future years.
Expenditure during the year included the maintenance and fuel costs for our fleet of two helicopters and eight rapid response cars, operational and charity staff salaries, medical and training equipment and fundraising costs. Some costs are paid by London Ambulance Service and Barts Health as part of the partnership that provides our service: Barts Health provides our doctors and our helipad at The Royal London Hospital, while LAS provide our paramedics who are seconded to the service. We don’t employ our medical team directly and therefore the true cost of the service is not represented in our audited accounts.
WHERE OUR FUNDING CAME FROM
In this financial year we raised £26 million (2024: £24 million), an increase of 8% year on year. This income includes £7.6 million restricted for our Up Against Time appeal, to purchase the new helicopters and keep them flying. The charity is reliant on regular giving and lottery players for around 54% of its income (2024: 55%): income from individual donations increased by 10% over the period, in contrast to a 42% increase in the previous financial year.
Individual giving
Philanthropy, partnerships and special events
Legacies
Community fundraising
Gifts in kind
Lottery and other trading
Charitable
HOW RESILIENT ARE WE?
With the purchase of the new helicopters, we reviewed our reserves policy to ensure it was appropriate for our new cost base and requirements.
The charity holds three types of funds: restricted funds (£14.7 million), designated funds (£4.8 million) and general funds (£19.9 million).
Designated funds are monitored and reviewed by the trustees at least annually. In March 2025, the trustees have agreed to designate a sum of £4.5 million to carry out our location and space project, including the possibility of an operational ground base in addition to the space at the helipad. This project is currently in the very early stages of scoping, but the funds are expected to be spent by the end of financial year 2026/27.
The trustees have reviewed the charity’s income sources, planned expenditure and financial risks and have agreed that it’s appropriate to hold a minimum of nine months of budgeted unrestricted costs in free reserves. The level of free reserves held at 31 March 2025 represents 14 months of budgeted unrestricted expenditure, which is in line with this policy.
INCOME AND EXPENDITURE HISTORY
THE YEAR IN HIGHLIGHTS
APRIL 2024
Our Chief Fire Officer, John Power, celebrated his 30 year anniversary working for the charity.
JUNE 2024
We were announced as the next charity partner of Omaze, securing a minimum figure of £1 million for our Up Against Time appeal.
MAY 2024
A patient of our service walked over 1,200 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End and raised over £58,000 for the charity that saved his life.
AUGUST 2024
Our Omaze partnership raised a recordbreaking £4 million for our Up Against Time appeal. This donation meant we surpassed our £15 million target, officially raising enough to replace our fleet of two helicopters.
OCTOBER 2024
We welcomed our two new Airbus H-135 helicopters at an event which hosted HRH Prince William, David Beckham, patients of the service and integral donors.
JULY 2024
We shared a mother’s experience of navigating her son’s traumatic brain injury; offering a resource to other families going through the same.
SEPTEMBER 2024
We spoke to the 50,000th young person through our schools and youth outreach activity, educating the younger generations of London about our charity.
NOVEMBER 2024
Some of our medics collaborated with HEMS operators from Norway and Wales to share knowledge and advance patient care.
DECEMBER 2024
To thank London and all the supporters who helped make our appeal a success, we hosted our first-ever carol concert at St Paul’s Cathedral.
OCTOBER 2024
Patient recruitment to the SWIFT (Study of Whole blood In Frontline Trauma) trial closed three months ahead of schedule due to the success of the recruitment phase.
NOVEMBER 2024
GB Paralympian, Stef Reid, became a celebrity ambassador for our charity.
JANUARY 2025
Some of our medics looked into using artificial intelligence (AI) insights to improve pre-hospital care with a new clinical trial.
JANUARY 2025
We appointed Jason Morris QAM as our new Lead Paramedic for Operations.
FEBRUARY 2025
Alongside our emergency service colleagues, we supported NHS Blood and Transplant’s appeal for members of the public to donate O negative blood as stocks run low.
MARCH 2025
We announced 2024 had been our busiest year yet, seeing our medics treat 2,058 patients throughout the year.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to use everything we know, our specialist skills and unmatched experience to save lives and ensure the best outcomes for every one of our patients and families.
OUR VISION
Our vision is to bring hope to every one of our patients across London, when they need us most, where they need us most.
HOPE ACROSS LONDON
Following the success of the Up Against Time appeal, looking ahead to the future, we launched our new organisational strategy. It’s an ambitious and thoughtful vision for the future, and not just for London. Our world-leading expertise means our influence on practice and research is global, meaning the hope we can give patients here can be amplified elsewhere.
We’ve marked the start of a new era of research and innovation, designed to improve the outcomes of each and every patient we attend. Our 15 year horizon will give us the time we need to shape the future of pre-hospital care and provide hope to people facing death or disability.
Getting to the patient in the quickest possible time, no matter where in London, is a critical first step. Once on scene, our team’s priority is to make complex clinical decisions under pressure to give someone the best chance of survival. Learning from these decisions and from our patients means we can deliver research, improve our team’s performance and ultimately get the best outcome for the next person.
Each of these steps informs a pillar of our strategy. They are:
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To achieve improved patient outcomes, even beyond our core service
To perform at our best and provide cutting-edge care that only we can deliver
To foster excellence in innovation, training, education and practice
To extend our impact and influence by building collaborative partnerships
To focus the activities of the charity to financially and operationally support the service and deliver the strategy.
We have broken the strategy down into five year plans to give us time to reflect, refine and adapt our broader plans. We’re looking forward to working in line with the new strategy for the years to come and updating you along the way.
THANK YOU
Ambassadors
Dr Hilary Jones
Gaby Roslin
Jackie Sullivan
Julia Leal-Hartogs and Bernardo Hartogs
Juliet Solomon
Lisa Ronson
Mark Vickers
Rahul Moodgal
Stratton Richey
Stef Reid
Philanthropy Board
Julia Leal-Hartogs
Sofia Barattieri-Weinstein
Nicoletta Bernardi
Alena Edmiston
Milana Hadji-Touma
Daniella Helayel
Amanda Kyme
Laura Laurence
Christina Lykiardopoulou
Cyrus Panahizadi
Ana-Karina de Paula Allen
Mark-Francis Vandelli
Charitable Trusts*
Ambergate Charitable Trust
Bamford Charitable Foundation
Cadogan Charity
The Charles S French Charitable Trust
The Company of Nurses Charitable Trust
Dr French Foundation
EBM Charitable Trust
Edith Murphy Foundation
Highfields Trust CIO
London Freemasons
Oak Foundation
Stelios Philanthropic Foundation
The Ardnave Trust
The Bake Foundation
The Beaverbrook Foundation
The Christopher Laing Foundation
The Dudley and Geoffrey Cox Charitable Trust
The Elizabeth Frankland Moore and Star Foundation
The Gerald & Gail Ronson Foundation
The Grace Trust
The Hamilton-Stewart Fund
*(those who have given a sum over £5,000 during 2024/25)
The Ian Mactaggart Trust
The ISTAT Foundation
The John Horseman Charitable Trust
The Lancashire Foundation
The Lord Mayor’s Appeal
The Misses Barrie Charitable Trust
The Number 8 Foundation by George Casey
The Rayners Penn Foundation
The Sinclair Charity
The Vandervell Foundation
The Warwick Trust
The Wigoder Family Foundation
The Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers
The Worshipful Company of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators
Individuals*
Alessandra Frame
Andy Moore
Angela Cubbadge
Barbara Robertson
Bob Forsyth
Catherine Paul
David and Eli Gardner
TRAUMATIC INJURY IS THE BIGGEST KILLER OF PEOPLE UNDER 40 IN THE UK – BUT ON THE WORST DAY OF SOMEONE’S LIFE, OUR MEDICS CAN PROVIDE HOPE FOR THE PATIENT AND THEIR LOVED ONES, THANKS TO YOU.
WE COULDN’T BE THERE FOR LONDON WITHOUT OUR LOYAL AND GENEROUS SUPPORTERS. WHETHER YOU DONATE FINANCIALLY, DEDICATE YOUR TIME OR TAKE ON DARING EVENTS FOR US, THANK YOU. WE’RE PROUD TO BE FUNDED BY YOU.
Edward Knox
Elizabeth Wright
John Humpish
Jörn Rausing
Jules and Cheryl Burns
Julian and Ana Garel-Jones
Kathleen Stevens
Mitchelmore-Moodgals
Peter and Diana Butler
Philip Broadley
Ralph and Elizabeth Aldwinckle
Reepa, Krupesh and Isha Patel
Richard Robinson
Rob and Cherry Wood
Robert Easton
Robert Smeath
Rozzat Shoro
Tim and Yasuyo Hennock
Yoshimi and Russ DeLeon
Alexander and Cristina Fitzgibbons
Corporate supporters*
Almacantar
Ambris LLP
Baker McKenzie
Bennetts Associates
Big Yellow Storage
Canary Wharf Contractors Fund
CIS Securities
Crédit Agricole
Derwent London
Guy Carpenter
John F Hunt Limited
LondonMetric
LDC
Marsh McLennan
MFS Investment Management
Omaze
Peters & Peters
Pharos Energy
SEFE
Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGA)
The Wiggin Charitable Foundation
ZOLL Medical
We’d also like to thank the following donors for their support of the appeal:
