Five-year strategy for air ambulance charity Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS)

Demand for elite pre-hospital Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) has never been higher, so KSS wants to develop its core life-saving service, building on its Research and Innovation Program and introducing new Patient and Family Aftercare and community-based initiatives. Alongside key partners, including South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb), the wider NHS, other charities and the communities they serve, KSS is looking to reach more patients, working together to save more lives.

An Ambitious Strategy

In 2021, KSS responded to 3,051 incidents – including medical emergencies, road traffic collisions and accidental injuries – the busiest year in its 32-year history. But 2022 is proving to be even busier.  The Five-Year Strategy focuses on development of the charity’s core service, taking the emergency room to the scene 24/7. Further innovations and initiatives for the 4.8 million people who live in Kent, Surrey, East Sussex and West Sussex – and millions who travel through the region every year – include:

• Developing aviation capability, including all-weather aircraft operations through performance-based navigation
• Excellent pre-hospital emergency medicine – developing clinical leadership and governance to maintain the charity’s high standards
• Research and innovation, including the investigation of drone deployment of defibrillators and developing techniques to deliver advanced medical interventions in the helicopter cabin. It’s time-saving, while offering KSS patients even better support in transit and arrival at the most appropriate hospital for ongoing treatment and care
• Community-based initiatives to prevent and respond to medical emergencies, including  prevention, education and training program, a HEMS Academy for healthcare and emergency response professionals, and a community-based first responders program
• Evolving its Patient and Family Aftercare Service, supporting individuals and their families in rehab and recovery.

David Welch, CEO, KSS explains: “As one team, Team KSS, we will act decisively and collaboratively to achieve our ambitious plans for the future – reaching more patients, improving more outcomes and working together to save more lives.

“Collaboration and partnership are key to our success, especially with our colleagues in SECAmb, the wider NHS and communities we serve. To realize our vision, we need our communities to come together to enable sustainable change, so that together we can save more lives. Our future success is very much dependent on the dedication, expertise and passion within the wider KSS family.

“It currently costs over £15.2 million a year to operate our life-saving service, with 86 per cent of our total income raised through the incredible generosity of our supporters, which ensures we can give every patient the best possible chance of survival and recovery. To enable our success, we will increase awareness of our life-saving work and inspire even more support from our communities. Together we can achieve great things.”

Dr Duncan Bootland, Medical Director, KSS said:“To realize our vision of an end to preventable loss of life from medical emergency, we need to collaborate with like-minded organizations to deliver community-based initiatives that prevent and respond to medical emergency.”

Barney Burgess, Chair of KSS’s Board of Trustees and former patient, added: “OurFive-YearStrategy has been created in collaboration with staff, volunteers, trustees, supporters and key stakeholders. We have focused on those areas where we can make the biggest difference to the care we provide and to our patient outcomes.”