WE ARE GREAT WESTERN AIR AMBULANCE CHARITY
OUR PURPOSE
Why do we exist?
Because a life-changing illness or injury could happen to you, anywhere, anytime, and you deserve the best care, as soon as possible.
Why
are we the ones to help?
Because we have amazing people with extraordinary skills, all committed to saving lives in our local communities, who can help you when you need us.
Why can we do what we do?
Because, just as GWAAC’s people care for our communities, you care for them - your generosity keeps GWAAC flying, and keeps us saving lives.
OUR CLINICAL LEADERSHIP TEAM
Dr Andy Lockyer Medical Director
Dr Andy has been a Critical Care Doctor with GWAAC since 2016 and became our Medical Director in July 2023. He is responsible for the leadership of GWAAC’s medical work which encompasses training, governance duties and general development and organisation of the doctor team. Away from GWAAC, Dr Andy has been a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at the Bristol Royal Infirmary since 2018, where he is the Clinical Lead for public health, major trauma, education, and global health.
Dr Andrew Heavyside Assistant Medical Director
Dr Andrew started with GWAAC in 2019, when he joined the team as a PreHospital Emergency Medicine trainee. He rejoined GWAAC in 2022 as a fully qualified Critical Care Doctor and in July 2023 he became Assistant Medical Director, assisting in the leadership of GWAAC’s medical work. Outside of GWAAC, Andrew is a Consultant Anaesthetist at Southampton General Hospital where he specialises in a number of areas, including major trauma.
Tim Ross-Smith Operations Officer
Tim joined GWAAC in October 2023. He was previously Operations Officer at South Western Ambulance Service Foundation Trust so arrived at GWAAC with a wealth of experience. He is now responsible for line managing our team of Specialist Paramedics and Advanced Practitioners in Critical Care.
Jack Kilminster Deputy Operations Officer
Jack has been a Specialist Paramedic in Critical Care with GWAAC since July 2017. He has been our Deputy Operations Officer since 2020, now supporting Tim Ross-Smith in the management of our paramedic team. Jack is also our Pharmacy Lead.
Vicki Brown Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Critical Care
Vicki has been with GWAAC since 2012 and is our Clinical and Educational Lead. She is responsible for ensuring our crew are up to date with their clinical skills, as well as devising the training pathway for our new Specialist Paramedics and Critical Care Doctors. In 2022, Vicki became the first person in the country from a purely paramedic background to qualify for the Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care Register of Consultant (level 8) Practitioners.
Vicki’s uplift to the Advanced Clinical Practitioner role continues to be funded by Beacon Owl Trust. This year Vicki was awarded the prestigious King’s Ambulance Medal in recognition of what she has achieved in her career so far. Vicki is currently undertaking a groundbreaking trial of pre-hospital emergency anaesthesia delivered without a doctor present. This is being watched with great interest nationally.
Number of MISSIONS
1,708
Response by AIR and ROAD
Critical care car 1,278 75%
We are being called to MORE THAN SIX patients a day on average
Types of MEDICAL EMERGENCIES
Cardiac arrest = 380 (22%)
Neurological = 136 (8%)
Collapse = 106 (6%)
Other medical = 309 (18%) (including respiratory problems, maternity)
Types of TRAUMA INCIDENTS
Road traffic collision = 259 (15%)
Fall = 169 (10%)
Stabbing/shooting/assault = 141 (8%)
Other trauma = 208 (12%) (including sport)
Helicopter 430 25%
Each mission costs around £2,200
MISSION STATISTICS SINCE 2020
Total MISSIONS
Types of INCIDENTS
*Jan - Sep 2024
2024’S CHALLENGES
NUMBER OF MISSIONS: The first half of 2024 was exceptionally busy for our crew, with no sign of that abating. The ambulance service continues to receive a high number of calls, and over time land ambulance crews are becoming more knowledgeable about when they should call in GWAACpartly due to the Clinical Outreach work kindly funded by the Beacon Owl Trust. We are being called to more stabbing incidents and to more children than in previous years.
50+ call-out weeks
MISSIONS
*Jan - Sep 2024
FINANCES: Although most of our biggest costs are fixed, the number of missions we are called to does have an impact on flying hours charges, fuel, clinical consumables, wear and tear on expensive equipment and ultimately the need for more crew and management time. The fundraising environment remains tough, but our fundraised income is significantly higher than the same period last year and we remain hopeful that fundraising in general will continue to improve. However, the number of legacies we have been notified of has significantly dropped this year, and this will mean that next year’s budget is likely to be extremely challenging.
NEW CREW: We now have three Specialist Paramedics working part-time with us and carrying out other clinical work elsewhere. They bring back different knowledge and expertise to the GWAAC team, and benefit from not seeing the same relentless level of high acuity patients through all their working hours. One of our SPCCs, Fleur, is now on maternity leave, and we anticipate that other SPCCs might want to work at GWAAC part-time in future. Due to these changes, we recruited two new SPCCs early in 2024 - James and Waldo.
We are finding that our military doctors are increasingly unavailable for GWAAC duties for long stretches, and as our longstanding consultants become more senior they take on other job roles and can do less GWAAC shifts. We have therefore recruited three new consultants - Sophie, Mike and Lily.
Whilst these are all positive appointments, training up two new SPCCs, three consultants and two doctors who are part of the national Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine programme at the same time is challenging, both in terms of fitting them into appropriate shifts and crew time for training them.
CONTROVERSY: Earlier in 2024 it became public knowledge that Vicki Brown, Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Critical Care, was due to start a trial where she would, alongside an experienced SPCC, deliver emergency anaesthetic without a doctor present. This caused a great deal of controversy and challenging conversations with various stakeholders, much of which played out on social media and in medical forums. Although this was a difficult time for Vicki, she felt supported by her colleagues, the rest of our clinical leadership team and other key stakeholders and the trial is now in progress.
2024’S CELEBRATIONS
Shortlisted for two Air Ambulances UK Awards
Breaking Barriers for the Great Western Hearts team and their work on ensuring that CPR training and defibrillators are targeted at the communities that need them most, in a way that they can benefit from.
Young Supporter of the Year for
Ethan Ross-Smith, son of Operations Officer Tim, who has thrown himself into volunteering with GWAAC in as many ways as he can!
Increasing corporate support
Our corporate budget line has its strongest ever pipeline, with significant partnerships secured with the likes of Bristol Airport, RAC, PwC, and Rolls Royce. We have shifted our focus away from small-scale ad hoc corporate relationships to a focus on “strategic partnerships”, targeting largescale organisations where there is clear alignment between our vision and values. As part of these partnerships, we are working to bring new fundraising opportunities to life. Our relationship with YTL/Brabazon will see donations from new house sales at the former Filton Airfield, as well as the first purpose-built “defibrillator friendly” community - with co-created impact measures to support ESG objectives.
Creating community hubs
In the last year we have continued to develop our retail portfolio at a sustainable pace. Each shop is increasingly rooted in its local community, providing valuable fundraising opportunities and increased recognition of our brand in targeted regional locations. Our retail team members are very much the faces of GWAAC for these communities, and we are seeing real success using our teams to amplify our other fundraising campaigns. The shops are increasingly becoming hubs for the community, recognised for their quality, the care of the staff team, and for their impact on a much-valued local charity. A recent private donation of £20,000 resulted from connections built at our newest shop in Keynsham, gratefully received by our Supporter Engagement Team and the Keynsham management team in a presentation on the shop floor. This location facilitated a connection that otherwise would not have been possible; each is a spoke in our growing network but operates as a true hub.
Turning a challenge around
In July, we felt like we didn’t have control of the story when the BBC South West health correspondent picked up on our press release about our increase in missions and led with a narrative about the pressure on our finances. This had huge coverage, and we took swift action to reassure our volunteers, supporters, crew and staff that this was not the story we were promoting and that we were stable. Within two days we received over £25,000 of donations, Babcock wrote off the week’s flying charges and dozens of people set up new regular gifts.
Expanding Clinical Outreach
By the end of August, our Clinical Outreach activities to help land ambulance crews and allied professionals increase their knowledge and skills had reached 378 people through a variety of training sessions. This included an ECG masterclass with 103 attendees and a half day event, Fem in PHEM, designed to help the 66 attendees gain the confidence and skills needed to progress towards a role in male-dominated Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine. Collectively, this work will ensure that the GWAAC team is called to the right patients, and that when we get there land crews have treated and prepared the patient appropriately and know how to help our team achieve the best outcome. The £30,000 awarded from Beacon Owl Trust for this work has enabled this.
What a truly incredible day, delivered by a faculty with true passion for what you do. I have come away feeling much more confident in my approach to trauma care. The sims far surpassed anything I’ve been through before. Realistic, thought provoking and positively challenging.
Ross Bate, Head of Advanced Practice, Advanced Clinical Practitioner, Paramedic
Thanks to the £14,000 of funding towards clinical training equipment, we have been able to order two iSim training monitors to assist with our own crew and Clinical Outreach sessions - making training simulations more realistic and testing skills in real-time.
Placing defibrillators where needed
We have been awarded £93,600 from Bristol City Council to place 52 defibrillators where they are needed most in the city. Additionally, £25,000 from the Sam Polledri Foundation means we have 67 fully-funded defibs to install. Our new mapping tool is helping to identify hotspots across the city, and we have asked the people of Bristol to suggest exact locations.
Providing CPR training
Thanks to the continued support of the Beacon Owl Trust, we trained 9,834 people in the 2023/24 academic year. 806 of these were in colleges, specialist and alternative education provision, up from 298 the previous year, as we increase our efforts to reach people who might need these skills most or struggle to get benefit from traditional CPR training sessions.
Going greener: The £50,000 funding from Beacon Owl Trust part-funded 560 panels on our airbase roof, generating 45 MWh in August 2024.
INVESTING IN NEW CLINICAL CREW
The £30,000 that Beacon Owl Trust awarded for crew education and training has enabled us to expand our team and ensure our new people are equipped to do their challenging roles.
Specialist Paramedic trainee recruitment
James Leavor
Before joining us in June, James worked as a Paramedic at Exeter’s Hazardous Area Response Team. He completed an enhanced clinical skills course and instructed at the National Resilience Response Unit.
Waldo Zweep
Waldo was an Emergency Care Practitioner in HEMS and Retrieval in South Africa and moved to the UK in 2023. He worked as a Paramedic with South East Coast Ambulance Service before joining us in June. He says, “It’s very different to the system in South Africa but everyone has been very supportive.”
Critical Care
Doctor
recruitment
Mike Thompson
Consultant in Emergency Medicine, with a military background, Dr Mike joined us in May. As well as previously working in a full time role for both East Anglian Air Ambulance and MAGPAS (Mid Anglia), he has done a mix of Emergency Medicine and Retrieval Medicine with a HEMS and flying doctor service in Australia.
Sophie MacDougall
Dr Sophie is a Consultant Trauma Anaesthetist, has trained in surgery and emergency medicine and has been an expedition doctor. Before joining our Critical Care Team in February, she completed six months of training with London’s Air Ambulance and six months with the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service in Scotland.
Lily Stanley
Dr Lily is an Emergency Medicine Consultant at North Bristol Trust. She completed her pre-hospital training at Thames Valley Air Ambulance and is now excited to join, “such an experienced and highly skilled team” at GWAAC.
Celestine Weegenaar, PHEM Trainee
Dr Celestine started in August as our newest PHEM Trainee following ten years of attending our clinical education activities and events. She is originally from the Netherlands and is currently a Senior Emergency Medicine Doctor at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.
YOUR FUNDING AT A GLANCE
Advanced Paramedic: £15,000
Great Western Hearts: £36,000
Clinical training equipment:
Clinical education and training: £30,000
Clinical Outreach: £30,000
LOOKING FORWARD TO 2028
We are COMPASSIONATE
AMBITION SIX
Create a Mission Support Centre
AMBITION FIVE
Be an excellent organisation
AMBITION ONE
Deliver clinical and operational excellence
We are DEDICATED
We are CURIOUS
OUR PURPOSE
To be there for people who need us - people who are experiencing a life-changing illness or injury and need the best care as soon as possible
AMBITION TWO
Our team is the best it can be
AMBITION THREE
Be socially and environmentally responsible
AMBITION FOUR
Be the charity that local people choose to support
We are COLLABORATIVE
In 2024, we launched a new five-year strategy, after extensive consultation with our staff, crew, volunteers and other stakeholders. Beacon Owl Trust can help us realise the Ambitions articulated in this.
AMBITION ONE
The Clinical Outreach work funded by Beacon Owl Trust in 2024 has been acclaimed as providing excellent teaching and coaching for hundreds of clinicians, making a direct contribution to patient care and helping GWAAC be even more effective. However, we have just scratched the surface of what we could achieve, and so we request continuing funding to reach even more clinicians. Cost: £30,000 pa.
We are in need of two new syringe drivers to provide steady streams of intravenous drugs to patients. As we get busier, the strain on our equipment increases and it becomes necessary to have back up devices to provide cover during maintenance and servicing periods. Cost: £10,000 one off.
Beacon Owl Trust has been kindly providing the top-up funding for Vicki Brown’s Advanced Practitioner role for some time. Now a second Specialist Paramedic, Dan Davis, is extremely close to achieving sign-off in his practical assessments, evidence portfolio and academic qualifications and will be ready to take up an Advanced Practitioner post. We would love to keep Dan at GWAAC, where he contributes so much to our culture and dedication to excellence, by offering him this role with us, alongside Vicki. Joint cost: £20,000 pa.
Our crew use Lyoplas where blood is not available (it is limited and only carried by one team at a time) or has run out. Lyoplas is a freeze-dried powder that is mixed with water when needed to create a blood-substitute which can buy a patient much-needed time. It is a specialist product imported from Europe. As we have got busier, we are using more and more Lyoplas. Cost: £7,000 pa.
AMBITION TWO
We are delighted that Tim has joined us as Operations Officer, but despite many years of management experience, he has never benefitted from management and leadership training of any kind. We would like to invest in development of Tim and our other managers, as it is only by having effective and dedicated leaders that we will make the most of our resources and get the best out of our teams. Cost: £15,000 one off.
Our crew and our staff are currently geographically separated, and the nature of their work patterns and commitments mean they rarely spend time together. We think that people who know, trust and understand each other perform better and more effectively. We would like to put aside some funding to support joint crew and staff events to build this ‘one team’ ethos. Cost: £5,000 one off.
Our crew and their gear get wet and muddy when out with patients. They have long been asking for a ‘drying room’ to dry wet kit quickly, so it is fresh and ready to wear and use again. We have identified a space at the base to create one.
Cost: £5,000 one off.
Clinician training remains a constant need, as we recruit new people and develop them to be some of the best in their fields, as well as help our experienced clinicians keep up to date with new developments. Various crew have ambitions to attend the four day London Trauma Conference and the Resuscitation Science Symposium, take their Diploma in Immediate Medical Care and Masters degrees and complete training in ultrasound and Advanced Life Support. Cost: £20,000 one off.
Thanks to support from the Beacon Owl Trust and others, our Great Western Hearts programme is helping educate and equip a generation of lifesavers. In 2024, we reached more diverse groups, but there is still more we could do and students we are missing. With the increase in call-outs to stabbing victims and children, we think this work is needed more than ever. Our programme adds incredible value to communities, and we would like to continue to grow and develop it.
Cost: £48,000 pa. Optional additional cost to provide administrative support, allowing Carlota and Lisa to concentrate on frontline delivery and network building, meaning more people can be trained and defibs delivered: £20,000 pa.
AMBITION THREE
We don’t currently have mechanisms for capturing patient outcomes and feeding these back into clinical teams to help them improve their work, and also support their wellbeing by resolving the unknowns. All of the former patients and bereaved families who have contacted us are White British, and as these are often the public face of GWAAC, we struggle to represent the diversity of the communities we serve in our imagery, meaning that we don’t look accessible to these groups. This creates a selfperpetuating cycle and means that only a certain part of our local communities currently choose to support us. Investing in patient liaison will mean that we can proactively contact all relevant patients, resulting in greater support for them and their families, improved knowledge about clinical outcomes, positive feedback or closure for clinicians and increased support from more diverse communities.
Cost: £30,000 pa.
The support from Beacon Owl Trust has helped us achieve so much over the years, and become a charity that is having a huge impact in many areas. We would be grateful for your continuing support to carry on and build on this success.
We don’t currently have a volunteer management system, meaning we are recruiting, coordinating, managing and monitoring well over 200 volunteers using systems which are not designed for the purpose. This means staff-intensive manual data entry, invitations to cover tasks, allocation of volunteers to shifts and events, monitoring of attendance and counting of hours and much more. We would like to implement a software system designed to do all of this through an online portal that volunteers can access themselves, reducing staff time on managing all this and allowing them to focus on recruiting more volunteers.
Cost: £5,000 one off.
We have limited knowledge of what people beyond our existing supporters know about air ambulances, what they are interested in and what messages might engage them. We would like to engage consultants to help us understand the audiences we are not currently reaching and develop a strategy, in partnership with us, to inform our communications and marketing work.
Cost: £15,000 one off.
AMBITION FOUR
