ANNUAL REVIEW 2019/2020
24/7 LIFE-SAVING CARE
ANNUAL REVIEW 2019/2020
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ANNUAL REVIEW 2019/2020
Frequent acronyms used in this document: EHAAT AW169 CQC EEAST HEMS MD902 PLM PPE RRVs
Essex & Herts Air Ambulance AgustaWestland AW169 Care Quality Commission East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust Helicopter Emergency Medical Service MD902 Explorer Patient Liaison Manager Personal Protective Equipment Rapid Response Vehicles
ANNUAL REVIEW 2019/2020
Contents Who we are
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Looking back at the year
07
- Clinical and operational - Generating funds - Finances - Our counties - Patient stories
08 14 18 22 24
Looking forward to the upcoming year
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- Clinical and operational - Generating funds
28 32
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Who we are Essex & Herts Air Ambulance, unlike NHS emergency services, is a charity. It brings the hospital to the critically ill and injured patients of Essex, Hertfordshire and surrounding areas. The free lifesaving service is provided 24/7 by helicopters and by Rapid Response Vehicles (RRVs) in the hours of darkness.
Each critical care team consists of a pilot and co-pilot, a pre-hospital care doctor and a critical care paramedic who can be rushed to the scene of an incident with life-saving support equipment to deliver advanced clinical care that is normally only found in the hospital emergency department. Once stabilised, the patient will be conveyed by air or land to the most appropriate hospital for their needs.
It costs ÂŁ9 million every year to cover all charitable costs and aircraft operations. Without access to National Lottery funding and with only limited support from Government, we rely upon the generosity and goodwill of the people and businesses of Essex and Hertfordshire to remain operational and keep saving lives.
Executive team
Jonathan Ager, Finance Director
Cliff Gale, Operations Director
Stuart Elms, Clinical Director
Pam Withrington, Fundraising & Marketing Director
Jane Gurney, CEO
Dr Ronan Fenton, Medical Director
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ANNUAL REVIEW 2019/2020
A huge thank you to everyone who has supported us this year and continues to do so in this challenging year ahead. Jonathan Trower Chair of Trustees
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Looking back at the year I am pleased to report that the financial year from 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020 was another successful one for EHAAT. Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic began impacting the charity from a clinical, operational, fundraising and financial perspective in the last few weeks of the financial year, this report largely covers the pre-coronavirus period, a time which feels far distant as I write this report. However, the report does also consider the new world in which we all now operate. We have been extremely grateful to continue to receive outstanding support from our communities across both counties. This has enabled us to invest significant funds in securing the charity’s long-term future. Last year I reported that the charity had submitted planning for the building of a new airbase at North Weald. I am delighted to say that planning permission was granted and construction began in January 2020; for more information turn to page 28. We were successful in securing £1.5m of Government funding, which will go towards the cost of the new airbase. As a service funded almost entirely by the generosity of the general public, it is rare that we receive such Government funding, so we are especially pleased. In addition to the new airbase at North Weald, the charity also signed a lease on a second hangar adjacent to our existing facilities at Earls Colne airfield. This expansion will also help ensure the security of our air operations there. Delivery of care is now around the clock after the charity commenced 24/7 operations in October 2019. Each base now works a twelve-hour helicopter shift when daylight hours allow. When daylight hours are reduced the shift continues in an RRV. An additional night RRV shift is provided at North Weald which means the bases work together to provide optimum cover for both counties and surrounding areas every hour of every day of the year. We began carrying blood products on board the helicopters and RRVs in March 2019, following extensive work to ensure that the right protocols were in place to use them safely and effectively. Since then blood has been used by the critical care teams to save lives on numerous occasions. We are conscious of what a precious commodity blood is and this year we held our first appeal to help boost blood supplies for the NHS. Photo credit: Rick Davis
This proved to be a great success, with over 55 donors giving blood, many for the first time. The financial year ended with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a consequence of the life-saving service provided by the charity, many of our staff have been, and remain on, the front line of the crisis. Community and corporate fundraising were adversely impacted, the charity’s fundraising events were cancelled and canvassing was stopped for both the lottery and our regular giving programme. We also closed our charity shops in accordance with Government rules and will be taking all actions necessary to ensure they are able to trade safely when they re-open. As we enter a period of economic uncertainty, we are fortunate to have strong reserves as a result of careful and cautious financial stewardship over previous years. With your ongoing support, this will ensure we can continue to help save lives. On behalf of the trustees I would like to thank the executive directors for the leadership which they have shown over the course of the year but particularly at the end of the financial year; to thank our staff for their dedication, enthusiasm and hard work in often difficult circumstances; and to thank our volunteers and supporters whose interest and commitment has remained strong. Finally, I would like to give my personal thanks to my fellow trustees for their support and hard work, especially when the charity has made a much greater call on their time than it would do normally. I would also specifically like to thank Phil Caborn, who has announced his desire to retire as a trustee and deputy chairman, for his 14 years of service, a period when the size and scope of the charity’s operations has grown immeasurably.
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Looking back at the year: clinical and operational Your local life-saving charity: now operational 24/7 Monday 7th October 2019 was a major landmark day in the history of EHAAT as our critical care teams became operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the first time in the charity’s history. Using EHAAT’s helicopters during daylight hours and RRVs in the hours of darkness, the critical care team are now available to care for critically ill and injured patients regardless of the time of day or night. Going 24/7 allowed us to work with the wider NHS to provide resilience in case of any major incidents in our area regardless of when they happen. The decision to use RRVs during the night instead of helicopters arises from the majority of the region’s hospital helipads not being lit. We continue to monitor this decision and work with hospitals and partner air ambulances to further improve landing facilities, ensuring patients receive the best possible care as quickly as possible.
To guarantee the continuation of firstclass pre-hospital care, the RRVs carry the same life-saving equipment as the helicopters, and are crewed by a prehospital care doctor and a critical care paramedic. After lengthy trials of many vehicles during the year, the EHAAT RRV of choice was the Volvo XC90. As an early adopter we worked hard with Volvo to test this vehicle and the result is a capable RRV, able to safely carry and deliver the clinical team and equipment in all weathers and conditions. Four of these vehicles joined the fleet alongside the two helicopters. Having a second vehicle at each base allows the team to remain operational even when a vehicle has to be taken out of service. The launch of 24/7 pre-hospital critical care followed the intensive recruiting and training of a number of prehospital care doctors and critical care paramedics needed to staff the extra hours of operations.
2,396
533
902
1,464
932
44
missions
Missions by air ambulance
Road traffic collisions
Missions by rapid response vehicle
Medical emergencies
Patients treated with blood products
Patient care and the safety of the team when responding in the hours of darkness are very important. Working on scene can be more technical at night, particularly when there is a need for more lighting. We are also monitoring fatigue and our excellent governance processes are keeping an eye on the all missions to ensure that no matter the hour, we work at the same standard of excellence. With delivery of EHAAT’s critical care now around the clock, many patients have already benefitted. In total the night-shift RRV was activated 322 times from November 2019 to March 2020 and the teams treated 196 patients in total, gave 3 pre-hospital blood transfusions and 28 pre-hospital emergency anaesthesia. Naturally with the increased hours of service, it has developed to be one of the busiest years for the critical care team raising from 2,132 missions last year to 2,396 this year. Below are just some statistics from this financial year:
961
Accidental injuries and other traumas
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Blood on board Twelve days before the end of the previous financial year, the charity introduced the carrying of blood products on board the helicopters and RRVs. Previously, patients have had blood loss replaced with saline which has many limitations when what they need is the oxygen-carrying capability and clotting factors of blood products. Now, when required the packed red blood cells are given with plasma, the other major component of human blood to provide an effective replacement for blood loss. Since the launch, we have continued to work closely with NHS Blood Transfusion Services, partners at The Princess Alexandra Hospital and our local blood delivery team Essex Voluntary Blood Service to safely provide the pre-hospital blood products to those patients in dire need. All organisations have worked to
Aeromedical Conference reaches ten year anniversary In June 2019, over 300 clinicians, professionals, students and partner agencies travelled from across the UK to attend the tenth anniversary of EHAAT’s Aeromedical Conference. This year the free-to-attend conference provided the opportunity to reflect on themes of previous years, a platform to discuss lessons learned and to think about innovations for the future. The broad topic allowed a wide range of subjects to be raised and discussed. ‘Good Morning Britain’ weather presenter and anti-knife crime campaigner, Alex Beresford, spoke movingly about tackling the issue of knife crime and its impact on his own family after his cousin was tragically killed in a knife attack earlier in the year.
ensure training is current, pre-hospital transfusions are safe and tracked across the year, and we are extremely pleased to announce there has been zero wastage of any blood and zero adverse incidents.
One donation of blood could save three lives.
During this financial year, 44 patients received blood products. The patient demographic comprised of 34 males and 10 females across 27 road traffic collisions, 4 falls, 3 medical emergencies and 10 other trauma incidents including assaults. Aware of what a precious commodity blood is, we held our first appeal to help boost blood donations for the NHS this year. One donation of blood can save three lives and the donation day event, held at Colchester United Football Stadium, hosted over 55 donors; many giving blood for the first time!
Keynote speaker for the day was Assistant Commissioner Graham Ellis, Head of Operational Resilience and Special Operations Group at London Fire Brigade (LFB). Mr Ellis undertook the Gold Commander role for LFB during several terror attacks on London in 2017 and gave a fascinating account of his experiences during these major incidents. Duncan Bew, Consultant Trauma and Acute Care Surgeon at King’s College Hospital, looked at the causes of knife crime. Dr Matt O’Meara, Pre-hospital Care Consultant at EHAAT and Dr Phil Cowburn, Medical Director of Great Western Air Ambulance, alongside Critical Care Paramedics Charli Watkins and Dee Gordon, each shared lessons learned from challenging cases. Critical Care Paramedics Sam Immens and Elisabeth Hanrahan of the New South Wales Ambulance Rescue Service discussed a mission which saw them treating a patient trapped in a deep hole in a remote area of the Australian Outback.
There were also presentations from Home Office Registered Forensic Pathologist Dr Ben Swift and San Diego-based Flight Paramedic Phil Grieve, who was EHAAT’s first clinical manager. We plan to continue attracting thought-provoking speakers and seeing colleagues come together and share knowledge and best practice at this event for many years to come.
ANNUAL REVIEW 2019/2020
The amazing Essex Voluntary Blood Service (blood bikers)
Live demonstrations at the Aeromedical Conference
The blood on board training
The ten year anniversary of the EHAAT Aeromedical Conference
‘Good Morning Britain’ presenter Alex Beresford talks about knife-crime at the Aeromedical Conference
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Working with our colleagues from neighbouring air ambulances
Working with our colleagues from EEAST
ANNUAL REVIEW 2019/2020
Governance and partnerships to form the highest quality care Clinical governance remains the core foundation of our work. Weekly team governance meetings continue to look at all aspects of the clinical care delivered. Missions are stringently reviewed and valuable feedback is provided to our clinical team. Following feedback an extra evening governance team meeting is now organised to allow further review and feedback. Our clinical governance continues to be strong through consultant and clinical manager led case review. Our team worked hard to set up and run a training course for our new critical care paramedics and pre-hospital care doctors. This encompassed all aspects of pre-hospital care and culminated in a joint exercise with help from local police, fire and ambulance partners. All agencies were in agreement that this collaborative working should continue. Our partnership working with the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) continues to strive for effective tasking (activation) of the critical care team through the Clinical Coordination Desk (CCD). The CCD is responsible for the tasking of all
A year of resilience Resilience has not just been a paper exercise this year, with major incidents as well as Brexit and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic having real impacts on the charity. The clinical and operations teams worked hard to ensure there would be no impact on equipment, pharmacy or other key components during the confusion of the Brexit dialogues. This hard work around business continuity paid off when it became apparent in early 2020 that a pandemic was imminent and UK Government enforced a lockdown beginning on 23rd March 2020.
specialist assets, including helicopters, across the East of England region. The effectiveness of the tasking continues to be monitored at monthly operations meetings involving EHAAT, EEAST, and our neighbouring air ambulances, East Anglian Air Ambulance and MAGPAS Air Ambulance. It is also subject to a monthly ‘key performance indicator’ monitored by the charity trustees. We continue to share good practice and communicate with other air ambulance charities across the UK and internationally. We also continue to work closely with both the London and East of England Trauma Centres and the regional Cardiac Networks across our counties. Through our Patient Liaison Managers (PLMs) we regularly engage with key hospitals across our region. Our work with the Association of Air Ambulances (AAA) continues on many levels. Our CEO, having completed her 6-year term, has recently stepped down as a trustee of Air Ambulance UK (AAUK). The charity-owned AW169 helicopter and leased MD902 helicopters are maintained by Specialist Aviation Services (SAS) who also provide the pilots and co-pilots. SAS and representatives of the charity meet formally twice a year to review the
The COVID-19 pandemic impact was swift and hard hitting, but the flexibility and determination of the team, along with clear and tested plans allowed the continued, safe operation to continue. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) stocks were good and allowed us to care for patients safely during the peak in March. Team safety and mental welfare were a priority during this period and the inclusion of a dedicated on-call consultant psychotherapist, has added to the variety of pathways and opportunities already in place for mental wellbeing and resilience.
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contract arrangements and ensure compliance. At the airbases we ensure a safe working environment that complies with stringent Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Health and Safety requirements. This operating structure helps us to be more effective and has many cost-saving benefits for the charity too. Both the bases and the flying operation are regularly inspected by the CAA to ensure compliance with regulations and safety. We have also introduced a new asset management system this year. It works in conjunction with our safety management system and allows even closer monitoring of all major clinical equipment across the trust and help to maintain our equipment resilience. Finally, our clinical and operational managers have trained with Public Health England to be able to deliver innovative major incident training internally and wider to support our partners. Major incidents can come in many shapes and sizes, from terrorism to the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to learn from our experiences and those of national and international organisations to allow our team to integrate and help with these multiagency events.
Our PLMs have continued to provide post incident care and follow up for patients and their families. Feedback has been very positive with many patients and families reporting that the interaction has helped them with their recovery. Together with our research lead they have set up a patient interaction group, this will allow us to get feedback and advice from people we have treated and help us tailor our care.
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Looking back at the year: generating funds Flight for Life Lottery The Flight for Life Lottery is our greatest source of fundraising income for the charity. At the end of March 2020, the number of supporters playing our lottery exceeded 100,000 individuals playing a total of 190,914 chances, very slightly down on last year. As previously reported, the success of our Flight for Life Lottery resulted in its turnover nearing the annual £10m sales cap imposed by legislation. To avoid breaching this cap during the financial year, we restructured the lottery and applied for an additional licence. This process was successfully implemented in August 2019.
Diversifying income We receive our financial support through a variety of means, including individual and corporate donations, legacies, fundraising events, charity shops as well as the Flight for Life Lottery. We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and endeavour to ensure that our fundraising is conducted to the highest standard. To the end of March, general donations finished at £1,503,000 (2019 £1,473,000). In order to move away from reliance on the lottery, the charity has been looking closely at continuing and strengthening the diversification of income streams. Retail During the year we opened three more charity shops in Braintree, Eastwood and Colchester. We decided to close our pop-up shop in Stevenage market following the Christmas trading period – this shop will reopen in November 2020 as a speciality Christmas shop and due to a water ingress problem at our Ware shop we were forced to close whilst the issue is investigated. This brings the number of trading shops to nine along with a warehouse and E-commerce team selling high-profit items online.
The Government subsequently announced that it would be introducing legislation to increase the sales cap to £50m from July 2020, but unfortunately the announcement came too late for us to avoid our restructuring. We contract two professional canvassing organisations to help drive sign-ups to the lottery or our regular giving programme. Through contractual terms and conditions, regular meetings and training we ensure they follow the charity’s values and that their activities are monitored.
The activities of these organisations are also regulated by the Gambling Commission and Fundraising Regulator. In our efforts to help protect vulnerable people, we require all canvassers to be Dementia Friends and to attend a dementia awareness training course. Underage players are not permitted to join the lottery; we also limit the number of chances players may have in the lottery.
All complaints received are followed up with the canvassing companies concerned and are reported to the Board of Trustees. During 2019/2020, we received 22 such complaints, out of over 42,846 new sign-ups.
In February, a new Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) till system was rolled out across the charity shops enabling improved data capture and the claiming of Gift Aid on the donations of items given to the shops. The retail division generated income of £720,000 in the year, an increase of 21.6% over the previous year. Regular giving In July 2019 we launched our regular giving programme as part of our income diversification plans. Our aim is to attract new supporters into the
programme predominately with telemarketing and direct mail campaigns. By the end of March 2020 we had signed up a total of 1,225 new supporters onto the programme. Hertfordshire targeting Research makes us aware that the charity is better recognised in Essex than Hertfordshire. In order to address this we implemented a five year marketing campaign focusing on three key Hertfordshire towns each year, to raise awareness of our status as a charity and the need for ongoing support.
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Volunteer twins Di Leggett and Sue Williams (Chair of Volunteer Forum)
Inside the Colchester charity shop
Outdoor advertising to raise awareness in Hertfordshire
Volunteers EHAAT could not do the work it does without the support of volunteers who play a vital role in raising charity awareness, assisting with support in our local communities and helping to increase income. At year end we had 427 volunteers, up from 352 the year before. Thank you to our volunteer forum group which consists of a small number of volunteers who, joined by key staff members, meet four times a year in a formal setting.
The forum group strives to continually improve and develop the volunteer experience and add to the success of the charity. The meetings give a channel to communicate ideas and issues and provide a platform for discussion. Last year, Sue Williams stepped into the role of chair of the volunteer forum group. Here Sue explains how things have been in the forum this year: “Over the past year we have held meetings out in the community, providing an opportunity to meet with our volunteers, as well as recruit new ones. We have seen the online volunteer hub launched, individual
Raising awareness and funds during National Air Ambulance Week
forum members across the counties have been allocated to act as a representative for volunteers in that area and we have introduced associate members on the forum. Hopefully volunteers feel that there are lots of communication channels to ensure they are supported and informed. Our quarterly forum meetings are now much more action focused and we welcome all volunteers to put forward agenda items that they would like discussed. I would like to take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to all the volunteers for the wonderful work you do – it is really appreciated.�
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Leave a lasting legacy On average, one in ten of our missions are funded by a gift in a supporter’s will. We are incredibly grateful for the amazing contribution our legacy givers make. We continue to promote legacies through a range of sensitive campaigns across different media platforms including radio, local press and social media. We also hold two free-to-attend annual legacy events, one in Essex and one in Hertfordshire, which allow supporters to ask any questions they may have about wills to professionals. In the year to the end of March 2020 the amount received via legacies went up from £1,561,000 to £2,345,000, an increase of 50%. This wonderful image shows 67 crew, volunteer and charity staff members gathering at the Earls Colne Airbase representing those supporters who left a gift to EHAAT in their will in the previous year. Their contributions will play a huge part in keeping the charity operational and saving lives.
One of our life-saving missions costs on average £2,200. Of the 67 people, 37 left more than enough to pay for one of these missions. We would like to thank Anglian Flight Centres, who generously put a temporary halt to flights in and out of Earls Colne Airfield so that a drone could be lifted to photograph the helicopter from the air. There were just a few minutes to get everyone safely onto the helipad, arrange them into a circle and capture the scene before flights resumed. The photograph was taken at the end of the day, as crew came off shift, meaning there was no interruption to their life-saving work. For more information on leaving a lasting legacy visit: ehaat.org/ways-to-give or call us on 0345 2417 690.
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Looking back at the year: finances The charity had another strong year financially, generating a surplus in excess of £4.2m which is slightly up on the previous year. This leaves us with total reserves of £32.4m of which free reserves are £20.6m. This means that as a result of careful and cautious financial stewardship over previous years, we enter the current period of uncertainty in a stable position financially, ensuring we can continue to operate our lifesaving service.
Income generation Total group income (incoming resources), increased by £2.1m (14.3%) in the year due to both our continuing growth in lottery and raffle income, coupled with a strong year for legacies, up 50.2% on last year and retail income, up 21.6%. Our Flight for Life Lottery subsidiaries, which run and manage the lottery and raffle, increased their Gift Aid donations to the charity by £1.1m to £8.6m, which amounts to 65.9% of the charity’s total income.
Resources expended Total group expenditure (resources expended) increased by £1m (9.3%) in the year due to continued investment in our retail growth, together with an expanded service delivery to include a full year of carrying blood on board and moving to a 24/7 pre-hospital critical care service. Expenditure on
PPE increased towards the end of the financial year as the COVID-19 pandemic was unfolding. The charity also incurred £0.9m (2019 - £0.3m) of capital expenditure in the year including £0.65m costs in progress on the North Weald Airbase and £0.1m on two new RRVs.
Performance Summary Overall, the increase in net group income resulted in a surplus of £4.2m which is slightly up on the previous year. Our net cash balances and investments at the year-end were £26.3m, up £4.1m from last year.
Reserves Policy Unrestricted reserves are freely available to be spent on any of the charity’s purposes; these amounts are contained within the general fund. In this context, reserves exclude tangible fixed assets held for the charity’s use. The trustees aspire to hold between 12 and 24 months’ total expenditure in unrestricted general reserves to safeguard the operation of the service should our income fail or in the event of an unexpected eventuality. The trustees also take account of the current strategy to significantly expand both service delivery and related fundraising activities in the medium term, and will review future plans should free reserves fall outside of this
2020
2019
32,425,159
28,173,055
Designated Reserves
(11,261,543)
(11,651,417)
Restricted Reserves
(602,410)
(784)
Free Reserves
20,561,206
16,520,854
Total Reserves Less:
range. Designated reserves have been set aside for future investments in a new airbase at North Weald together with improving the existing airbase facilities at Earls Colne. The below table is a breakdown of the reserves the charity has.
Investments Our investment portfolio, managed by Aberdeen Standard Capital (formerly known as Standard Life Wealth), decreased in market value across the period by £0.5m, having a market value at the year-end of £7m. The valuation was heavily impacted by falls seen across global equity markets triggered by uncertainties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, and is not representative of our portfolio generally. Our investments are held for the medium to long term, and are made using professional investment advice. We consider the security of our investments, our future need for funds and market returns available for a given level of risk. During the year cash reserves continued to be held in various fixed term deposits spread amongst several leading financial institutions. The trustees’ treasury management policy is designed to optimise our returns on these cash resources whilst safeguarding these key assets. They are invested taking into account the priorities of security, liquidity and yield in a balanced manner.
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Where the majority of income came from 41
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25 Collection tins:
Lottery and Raffles:
Legacies:
Charity Shops:
Grants:
Donations:
In memoria:
Fundraising events:
Investment income:
£103,989
£687,333
£272,044
£10,369,021
£355,570
£223,902
£2,345,263
£1,502,918
£254,330
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Financial table All financial information within this Annual Review has been extracted from the Trust’s audited financial statement for 2019/2020 which was filed at Companies House.
Income from: Donations and legacies Charitable activities Trading activities Investments TOTAL INCOME
Expenditure on: Raising funds Charitable activities TOTAL EXPENDITURE
Net surplus before investment gains/(losses) Net gains/(losses) on investments
Total funds 2020 £
Total funds 2019 £
4,680,895 355,570 11,300,140 254,330
3,846,294 66,620 10,494,111 109,247
16,590,935
14,516,272
5,134,156 6,601,166
4,781,140 5,949,514
11,735,322
10,730,654
4,855,613 (603,509)
3,785,618 281,753
Net income/(expenditure) before other recognised gains and losses
4,252,104
4,067,371
Net movement in funds
4,252,104
4,067,371
28,173,055
24,105,684
32,425,159
28,173,055
Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
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£
2020 £
£
2019 £
Fixed assets Intangible assets 40,787 57,027 Tangible assets 7,205,552 6,849,389 Investments 19,258,367 8,994,331 26,504,706 15,900,747 Current assets Stocks Debtors Investments Cash at bank and in hand Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Net current assets
31,248 19,761 1,016,417 432,915 3,000,000 4,561,698 4,009,464 8,643,049 8,057,129 13,657,423
(2,136,676) (1,385,115) 5,920,453 12,272,308
Net assets 32,425,159 28,173,055 Charity funds Restricted funds 602,410 784 Unrestricted funds 31,822,749 28,172,271 TOTAL FUNDS
32,425,159
28,173,055
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Looking back at the year: our counties
Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge Welwyn Garden City Following her son being airlifted, Nicky Kendrick organised and ran a ladies evening at her home in November. Selling boutique clothing, jewellery and makeup as well as offering beauty treatments, she raised £1,439.84.
Stevenage The warehouse and donation drop-off point in Stevenage is also the base for the charity’s E-commerce team. Last year they came across a handmade doll in the warehouse that a supporter donated and after some research started the eBay auction at £199. In the end, the doll sold for £903.
Luton & Dunstable Hospital Luton
Lister Hospital Stevenage
HERTS
Princess Hospita
Harpenden In 2019, both the men and women’s teams at Aldwickbury Park Golf Club adopted EHAAT as their charity of the year and through golf days and club fundraising they raised £20,103.
North Weald Airbase (AW169)
St Albans In Hertfordshire, St Albans is the town with the most Flight for Life Lottery players. 3,800 people here support EHAAT through the lottery. The lottery is our biggest source of income and you can play from just £1 a week.
London The Royal London Hospital Whitechapel
Queen’s Hospital Romford
Hospitals we fly regularly to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge Major Trauma Centre For patients who have sustained severe or multiple trauma.
Lister Hospital, Stevenage General Emergency Department Particularly for patients who have suffered heart attacks.
Basildon University Hospital, Basildon Cardiothoracic Centre (specialist hospital) For patients who have suffered heart attacks.
Luton & Dunstable Hospital, Luton General Emergency Department
Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford Specialist Burns Centre (specialist hospital) The only specialist burns centre in the East of England. Colchester General Hospital, Colchester General Emergency Department Ipswich Hospital, Ipswich General Emergency Department
Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow General Emergency Department Queen’s Hospital, Romford Specialist Neuro-Centre (specialist hospital) For patients suffering acute neurological emergencies and head or spinal injuries. The Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel Major Trauma Centre For patients who have sustained severe or multiple trauma.
Ware Ware is the town in Hertfordshire that has the highest concentration of collection tins. Over 12 months, one of these tins can fund a flight.
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Stebbing Last year, Stebbing played host to the Vintage Tractor Road Run in aid of EHAAT. At their sixth anniversary event, held in May 2019, more than 60 farmers and tractor enthusiasts took part in the 25 mile route and raised an incredible £8,425 for EHAAT.
Colchester We couldn’t do a lot of what we achieve without our incredible volunteers. Of our 434 volunteers, 53 come from Colchester. It is also the town that raised the most for the charity last year, approximately £670,000 altogether (excluding lottery).
Ipswich Hospital Ipswich
Earls Colne Airbase (MD902)
ESSEX
s Alexandra al Harlow
Colchester General Hospital Colchester
Broomfield Hospital Chelmsford West Mersea The charity shop on West Mersea Island was the first shop the charity opened, back in June 2003. Since then the shop has raised an incredible £892,429 to the end of this financial year’
Basildon University Hospital Basildon
Maldon Last May, EHAAT was one of the chosen charities for the Maldon Mud Race. Over 300 competitors took part and £2,500 was donated to the charity.
Basildon Of the hospitals in Essex, Basildon University Hospital was the most frequented by our critical care teams last year with 130 patients being taken here for ongoing treatment. The specialist hospital hosts a cardiothoracic centre for patients who have suffered heart attacks, and also an Emergency Department for other traumas and illnesses.
MISSIONS Essex
1,473
Hertfordshire
544
Surrounding areas
379
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Patients stories “They saved my daughter’s life”.
“The team’s speed of work and decisions were amazing”. Emma heard a thud from the bathroom and ran upstairs to find her husband Andrew in the middle of a seizure with blood pouring from his head. He had no idea who she was.
Two-year-old Charlotte’s airway became obstructed whilst eating lunch at nursery. She was turning blue when EHAAT’s critical care team arrived and opted to forcefully ventilate her at higher than normal pressures. With this advanced technique, oxygen could finally get back to her lungs, heart and brain. Charlotte was then given a prehospital emergency anaesthetic and put on a ventilator before being flown to Addenbrooke’s Hospital where she was woken by the hospital team the following day. After such a long time without oxygen, there were fears of neurological damage. Amazingly Charlotte awoke with just a cough and croaky voice. A few weeks later, she visited the airbase to meet the team who saved her life.
Scan this code with your phone camera to watch Charlotte’s story.
Arriving on scene, the EHAAT critical care team anaesthetised Andrew, inducing him into a coma. This allowed the team to protect Andrew’s brain and staple close the head wound before flying him to The Royal London Hospital in just eight minutes.
Harry was cycling when he rode over a manhole cover and was thrown from his bike into a lamppost, fracturing his skull. He was left in a state of severe agitation and disorientation, common with head injuries. EHAAT’s critical care team sedated Harry to gain control. This was increased to a pre-hospital emergency anaesthetic to give Harry’s brain the best chance of recovery. He was then flown to The Royal London Hospital where he stayed in a medicallyinduced coma for six days. A week later Harry was able to go home.
After a few days Andrew was back home and within a few weeks he was back to his normal self. Emma has been fundraising for the charity whilst in lockdown by leading virtual personal trainer sessions.
“We’re so lucky the air ambulance was there that day”.
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On a route he’d ridden many times with his motorbike group, Richard came round a bend and immediately felt something wasn’t right. Whether it was a problem with the bike or a mistake entering the bend, Richard didn’t know, but the bike nosedived into a ten foot ditch flinging him at 50mph into a tree. He ended up 20 feet from his bike, struggling to breathe. A passing driver managed to take Richard’s helmet off as an off-duty fireman rang 999. Within ten minutes the air ambulance landed in a neighbouring field. The team were quickly at Richard’s side and within minutes he was secured and on his way to Addenbrooke’s Hospital to deal with the major trauma he had sustained.
Dawn was working at a riding school and leading some horses along when the horse in front of her unexpectedly kicked out. Dawn fell to the floor. Although not aware at the time, she was suffering severe internal injuries and badly bleeding.
“I don’t think he would have been saved without getting him to hospital so fast”.
Because of the severity of Dawn’s injuries, the land ambulance crew called for the air ambulance. Suffering broken ribs and a lacerated liver, Dawn was accompanied by the EHAAT crew in the land ambulance to Addenbrooke’s hospital where she needed an immediate blood transfusion. After being discharged from the hospital, Dawn visited the airbase to meet the team who attended her and she registered to be an EHAAT volunteer. Dawn is back working with the horses but with her husband insisting she wears a body protector at all times.
“The moment I heard the noise of the helicopter whilst lying in my ditch, my feeling of relief was immense”.
Steve was on a stepladder in his back garden when one of the legs on the ladder crumpled and he fell to the ground, landing on his back and hitting his head. Steve’s two-year old son saw the blood coming from his dad’s injury and ran to get his mum Sharon, who immediately phoned 999. When EHAAT arrived, the team quickly sedated and then anaesthetised Steve before flying him directly to The Royal London Hospital. In hospital it was found that the front of Steve’s brain was swelling and he needed urgent surgery to remove a section of skull to relieve pressure. Eight months later, Steve could finally return home and continue his recovery. Last year the family visited us at the North Weald Airbase.
“I didn’t know much about EHAAT until I needed it”.
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Looking forward to the upcoming year Thank you for your continued support during this time of uncertainty. Jane Gurney CEO
It is clear that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will mean that the year ahead will be particularly challenging for the charity. I would like to assure you that the trustees, executive directors and teams of the charity have devoted an enormous amount of time to adapting our working practices. We have carefully considered how we can best fulfil our charitable objectives and reviewed all aspects of our business in order to ensure that we are as well positioned for the future as we can be. I am extremely proud of how all of our teams have responded to this uncertain crisis. The trustees and executive team will continue to closely monitor the impact of the pandemic and take all the measures necessary to ensure they can continue to work safely. Despite this challenging situation, our fundraising team has already risen to the challenge of maintaining our income by developing new ways of raising funds during the lockdown, including virtual events and an emergency appeal for funds to purchase personal protective equipment. On the clinical side, our teams have been busy preparing to support their NHS colleagues during the pandemic while continuing to offer a full HEMS service.
The clinical team is preparing to assist with patient transfers between hospitals in the region and our PLMs have volunteered to help set up The NHS Nightingale London Hospital. They will be supporting staff, patients and families during their time there. During the year the charity invested in a bespoke risk management software system. The trustees have a risk management approach that comprises: • An ongoing review of the risks the charity may face, with risks being entered onto a risk register. • The establishment of systems and procedures to mitigate those risks • The implementation of procedures designed to minimise any potential impact on the charity should those risks materialise • Use of a risk management system for all clinical occurrences, reviewed by the Operational Risk Management Group The trustees consider that the most significant risks to the charity are • Patient harm through medical failure • Failure to satisfy all the requirements of the Care Quality Commission (CQC)
• Too high of a reliance upon our lottery income particularly in light of increased competition from other charities. • An uncertain future for fundraising in light of the COVID-19 pandemic which is requiring the charity to change its fundraising methods. However the charity is satisfied that the major risks have been mitigated where possible. As I write this, construction work on our new airbase at North Weald has been paused because of the lockdown, but we are optimistic that this can resume in the next few weeks. I’m really looking forward to seeing the architect’s drawings becoming a reality over the coming months, and excited about seeing this fantastic development for the charity being completed in 2021. Finally, thank you to the people of Essex and Hertfordshire for your continued support during this time of uncertainty. We need that support more than ever to enable us to remain operational and saving lives.
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Looking forward to the upcoming year: clinical and operational Airbase developments One of the most exciting objectives that the charity will be working towards in the next financial year is the continued building of our new airbase at North Weald and the expansion of our existing airbase at Earls Colne. Building our own specially-designed airbase will secure the future of our North Weald operations for decades to come and building the facility ourselves will result in significant cost savings compared to leasing a new building built to the same specification. The decision to proceed with this development, which will cost in the region of £4.5m, was taken after long and careful consideration by the trustees and the executive team. We were delighted to be awarded £1.5m from the £10m released for air ambulance charities by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his October 2018 budget. This money will be used towards the building costs of our new North Weald Airbase meaning that funds initially put aside for our new premises can now be used to help develop and improve the life-saving service we provide for patients. Following planning permission being obtained in winter 2020, initial plans were to open the North Weald Airbase in late 2020. As work is halted due to the lockdown we are now anticipating a fully operational date in summer 2021. On 12th February 2020, to mark the start of the build, CEO Jane Gurney welcomed VIP guests, charity trustees and EHAAT’s critical care team as well as members of the construction team to North Weald for a ‘breaking ground’ ceremony (pictured right). As well as housing one of our two helicopters and two rapid response vehicles, the new airbase will include areas for training, mentoring, patient liaison and fundraising. There will be space for cross training with other emergency services, which will benefit both EHAAT and the local pre-hospital care community.
As the physical build progresses, the equipment will be purchased for simulation and training. There will be a mix of low and high fidelity with life-like patient mannequins adding the realism to fully immerse our teams. We will be able to practice all aspects of our care from the art of communication to intricate clinical interventions. It truly will be the next step for our training and education. Part of the building will be an interactive visitor centre where we look forward to welcoming the communities we serve. This will include some informative and fun interactive experiences to explain everything from how and why we are tasked, to the lifesaving interventions the crew can make. To pay tribute to the incredible lifesaving work of our critical care teams, we will be installing a celebratory sculpture at the new airbase at North Weald and the airbase at Earls Colne. We are excited to have partnered with Harlow College, to challenge art & design students to come up with innovative designs. We have launched the ‘Buy-a-Brick’ fundraising appeal which allows supporters to be part of our new airbase forever. In the coming year we will be aiming to sell 4,000 bricks. The bricks purchased from this fundraiser will be used in the helicopter viewing area, which will be accessible from the visitor centre. At Earls Colne Airbase, it has been agreed that improvements will be undertaken to produce a better working and training environment. There will be larger pharmacy and equipment areas which will give enhanced flexibility and safety when preparing for a shift. We also hope to aid staff welfare even better with dedicated rest and eating facilities. To accommodate this, the charity have commenced a lease on an adjacent hangar to our current operating base and plans have been drawn up to utilise both hangers to improve the facilities. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, building work has been delayed at Earls Colne but it is anticipated construction will be completed by autumn 2020.
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Building our own speciallydesigned airbase will secure the future of our operations for decades to come.
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PHEM training
New PAX medical bag system
Everything we do is aimed at achieving the best possible outcome for our patients.
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PHEM training After a very successful first year with two IBTPHEM trainees, EHAAT will be re-engaging with the Intercollegiate Board to take on two new PHEM (Prehospital Emergency Medicine) trainees later in 2020. The standard of the PHEM trainees appointed to EHAAT were excellent and bodes well for the future. The PHEM programme, which lasts a year, is for doctors with a background in Anaesthesia, Emergency Medicine, Intensive Care Medicine or Acute Internal Medicine who train in the medical sub-specialty of Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine. To complete it, participants attend a series of training days and courses, as well as gaining experience with a relevant service provider such as EHAAT and in the Emergency Department of a hospital. They also come together with other PHEM trainees across the region for simulatorbased training, training days, case review days, specialist courses, and joint training with other services.
Equipment development Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ventilator renewal programme was placed on hold in January 2020. This was because all trial ventilators were held back as they were needed for patient care. At time of writing we are still waiting for the programme to restart and to receive the first trial ventilator. Once the programme does restart the final choice will replace the current ones which have given excellent service, but will allow for more flexibility and choice when ventilating patients.
Additionally, research and innovation have continued with our operational team working closely with equipment manufacturers to totally redesign our medical bag system. Following trials and feedback from the clinical team the result is a lighter, ergonomic system that allows the critical care team to respond by air or RRV and to carry the life-saving equipment, pharmacy and blood products they need for patient care. We hope these bags will be fully introduced later in 2020.
Major incident review We shall be reviewing our major incident procedures and equipment with a view to team safety, collaboration with other emergency services and enhancing our management capability.
Safety and risk We will be re-structuring our operational risk management group, looking at all aspects of incident recording, reviewing, auditing and prevention.
Zero wastage of blood We will continue to work with partners as we aim not to waste a drop of the blood we carry on our helicopters and rapid response vehicles. Since the launch of blood on board in March 2019, we have been successful with this target and will continue working towards zero wastage.
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Reduction of carbon footprint Over the coming year the charity will take steps to further improve sustainability and its carbon footprint. We will be engaging a carbon consultant and working with them in order to calculate our carbon footprint for the year 2019/2020. The first stage of this will be capturing the data on the fuel used under scope 1 of the greenhouse gas protocol (fuel used in aircraft, vehicles, heating buildings etc.) and scope 2 (fuel used indirectly as a result of our activities, such as in the production of purchased electricity). The new airbase at North Weald was designed with these issues firmly in mind, and will include measures such as solar panels.
Aim to receive outstanding at next CQC Following our last very successful CQC inspection we continue to review our clinical operation to ensure we are giving the very best, outstanding care to our patients. The CQC inspection framework that applies to our service allows us to cross check to ensure we are meeting the regulations in full, but also is a good tool to allow auditing of our practice. We are also looking to benchmark our practice against that of other air ambulances. This will entail data sharing agreements being completed that will allow us to share and receive suitably anonymised data safely and correctly. As we collaborate more we hope to be able to share risk and safety data so that all parties can learn from each other. The ultimate aim is that the patient will benefit.
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Looking forward to the upcoming year: generating funds Fundraising
Major donor strategy
We will continue to maintain and expand fundraising initiatives and look to develop an events programme that also includes more ‘virtual’ engagement opportunities. In addition, we will focus on our core areas of income diversification including retail, regular giving and major donors across both Essex and Hertfordshire.
We continue to work on the implementation of a Major Donor Strategy. Our long-term aim is to appoint a major donor specialist who will have the knowledge and expertise to help cultivate key prospects and develop this programme as part of our diversification plans.
We will continue to push the ‘Buy-aBrick’ fundraising appeal to support the build of the North Weald Airbase. We hope to raise £20,000 from this. We are also researching various contactless options so that supporters can donate more easily – contactless giving methods will be trialled in 2020.
Retail division Plans are in place to set up a retail advisory committee with the primary objective to provide support, and guidance to the executive team and to assist and advise the trustees on the development of the retail division. We will also be looking to recruit a volunteer with considerable retail experience to sit on the retail advisory committee. In addition, we plan to work with a specialist retail consultancy who will undertake a retail review in order to identify key options for a refreshed or new strategy. Following the review, a full series of recommendations will be presented to ensure the retail strategy is future proofed and fit for purpose. It will also consider the challenges of post COVID-19 pandemic and the predicted future market.
Lottery growth through non-canvassed sign ups To promote the Flight for Life Lottery, we plan to make more use of paid social media advertising and hyperlocal targeted TV advertising in order to reduce the reliance on face to face canvassing for recruiting new players.
Website development Over the coming 12 months we will continue to enhance and develop our website, to ensure the best user experience.
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Our values
Professional, Passionate, Innovative, Trustworthy, Dedicated, Inclusive.
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Ways you can support us • • • • • • • • • • • •
Make a regular or one-off donation Join our lottery Fundraise for us Join us at one of our events Remember us in your will Volunteer with us Browse our charity shops or eBay page Enter our raffles Buy merchandise at our online shop Become a corporate partner Hold a collection tin at your business Follow us on social media
For more information visit ehaat.org, call 0345 2417 690 or email contactus@ehaat.org
We can’t fly without you Flight House, The Business Centre, Earls Colne Business Park, Earls Colne, Colchester, Essex, CO6 2NS T: 0345 2417 690 E: contactus@ehaat.org W: ehaat.org Charity Number: 1108989