Lunchtime Speakers – KSS Air Ambulance- Nigel Baxter

his week our speaker was Nigel Baxter who is a volunteer from Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance
(KSS). It was founded in 1989 in Kent and later expanded to Surrey and Sussex. It is one of the largest HEMS
(helicopter emergency medical services) in the UK in terms of area and population. Its service area has a
population of 4.8m, but because it hosts a major airport (Gatwick), several motorways, the channel tunnel and
ferries, the service area is estimated to have a transient population of 90 million. KSS is a registered charity. It
costs £20.8m per year to run. It raises 90% of its revenue from donations and fundraising and 10% from the
NHS. It operates 24/7 every day of the year and deals with an average of 3,300 incidents per year. They are
divided 42% in Kent, 25% in Surrey and 29% East and West Sussex. The aircraft are called out by a dispatcher
working at the 999 emergency centre. The dispatcher picks out the ambulance call-outs that involve major
trauma. These are divided between road traffic accidents (28%), medical emergencies such as heart attacks
and strokes (28%), accidental injuries (20%), assault (9%) and self-harm (8%). KSS has three AW 169
helicopters based in Redhill, of which two are in use all the time. Each helicopter has a crew of one doctor, one
paramedic and two pilots. The doctors and paramedics are highly trained and experienced in dealing with major
trauma. The doctors are usually seconded to the service for a period of 6 months. They are typically consultant
level anaesthetists who are experienced in emergency medicine. The helicopters are fully equipped and are like
a flying emergency department with 360 degree access throughout the flight. The doctors can administer
anaesthetics if necessary. The helicopters can reach most parts of area within around 15 minutes and would
take around 15 minutes to get to a hospital. The main hospitals that they go to are St Georges (Tooting) in SW
London, Kings College in SE London or University College Hospital in Brighton. KSS also has four Volvo XC90
emergency vehicles stationed in different parts of the area, which act as a backup to the helicopters. Their
crews are blue-light trained. Richard Sanderson gave the vote of thanks. He thanked Nigel for his interesting
and inspiring presentation and praised the extremely valuable service that KSS provides in our area.