Thank you for visiting my JustGiving page in support of Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS).

THIS WILL BE MY 10th VIERDAAGSE

( INTERNATIONAL 4 DAY MARCH IN NIJMEGEN)

VERY PROUD TO BE SUPPORTING THIS WONDERFUL CHARITY

As has become my catchphrase-

EVERY PENNY COUNTS

KSS is an independent charity. It costs over £20.4M a year to sustain their world-leading, cutting edge, innovative service and amazingly 88% is donated and raised by the people of Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

Your donation means KSS can continue to provide the best care at the worst of times for their patients, and stay at the forefront of pre-hospital critical care.

FACTS AND FIGURES.....

· We were needed more than ever before and responded to over 3,300 (3,382) incidents in 2023-2024 (3,165 in 2022-2023)

We treated 1,939 patients in 2023 – 2024 (1,881 in 2022-2023) (Note: there is a difference between 'incidents responded to' and ‘patients treated’).

The three types of incident that we most frequently attended were: Road Traffic Collisions (28%), Medical (28%) and Accidental Injury (20%)

The three most common types of injury were to the head (26%), Thorax (17%), and abdomen (12%) (2023-2024)

The number of patients we cared for at night was 648 (2023-2024)

3-4pm was when our service was most in demand (closely followed by 12-1pm)

Monday was the busiest day (followed by Saturdays and Sundays)

We gave blood and/or plasma to 143 patients (155 in 2022-2023)

58% of our missions were in our helicopters and 42% in Rapid Response Vehicle

The most common major trauma centres we took patients to were 1. King's College Hospital in South-East London, 2. St George’s Hospital in Tooting and 3. Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

42% of the incidents we responded to were in Kent, 25% Surrey, 17% West Sussex, 14% East Sussex and 2% in neighbouring areas.

Every day we respond to nine emergency calls on average – giving people the best chance of survival and keeping families together. During busy periods of high demand this can rise to roughly 10-11 calls responded to per day.​​​​​​​

When somebody needs critical care, every second counts. That's why when the call comes, we aim to lift within five minutes during daylight and in around 15 minutes after dark (when additional flight planning is required).

We can reach any part of Kent, Surrey and Sussex in under 30 minutes, bringing the emergency room to the scene to deliver lifesaving care

We were the first air ambulance in the country to begin flying 24/7 all year round

We have more than 170 members of staff and 120 volunteers. There are 107 staff members in our Service Delivery Team (including six Captains and six First officers), 18 in Fundraising and Philanthropy, 17 in Individual Giving and Lotteries, 17 in Corporate Services, and 12 in Marketing and Communications.

There are 21 individual Air Ambulance charities in the UK, which provide pre-hospital care support to the NHS and form an important part of the UK’s frontline emergency services

Fundraising

KSS is an independent lifesaving charity. It costs £20.4M a year or £56K per day to operate our world-leading, lifesaving service with 88% of our total income raised through the incredible generosity of our supporters and 10% through NHS commissioning funds. The remaining 2% is made up of a range of things including income on our investments*. (*Annual Report 2023-2024)

It costs £392K per week to run our service.

It costs £56K a day to run our service. This is a 9% increase on last year, and we predict this to increase by a further 5% in the year ahead due to inflation.

Cost per mission:

The average cost of a mission is £4K. This cost includes our dispatchers, medics and pilots, fuel for our helicopter or Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV), equipment and helicopter maintenance, medicines and disposable medical supplies. This is the average cost for a mission in our helicopters or Rapid Response Vehicles (RRVs)

For more info on the vital work of KSS, please visit aakss.org.uk.