One of the vital emergency services that has developed in recent years is the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance that has been used for medical emergencies in the Bourne area on many occasions.

This air service began operations in Lincolnshire in April 1994 and is based at RAF Waddington, south of Lincoln, and provides a fast and efficient ambulance service unaffected by road congestion, country roads, heavy vehicles or road works, and can can reach any destination in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire in 19 minutes.

The helicopter is tasked through the operations room at East Midlands Ambulance Service in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire who decide whether the helicopter is needed. When the alert call comes through the pilot goes directly to the aircraft to start the engines, while the details of the call are being taken by the aircrew. By the time the medics reach the aircraft and strap themselves in, the aircraft is ready for take off.

The response time from call to aircraft being airborne is just over two minutes. The flight time of a patient from an incident to the nearest hospital with suitable facilities takes, on average, six minutes.

Every year, the service flies around 1,000 mercy flights and the 12,000th mission was complete in April 2010.

The Lincs & Notts is one of eighteen dedicated air ambulance operations in the country, flying a total of over 30 helicopters, providing an important and sometimes vital additional patient care service for our most critically ill and injured patients.

All are reliant upon charitable support and many events, such as street collections, fun days, quiz nights and musical events, are held in the Bourne area every year to raise money for this worthwhile and necessary service, one of the biggest donations of £25,000 coming from the BRM Celebration Day which was held in October 2012.

THE AIR AMBULANCE IN ACTION

NOTE: The photographs on this page were taken by Geoff Bell during an emergency
at Bourne on Monday 8th July 2013 when the helicopter landed on
the recreation ground in Recreation Road.