Between them, EAAA, Essex & Herts Air Ambulance (EHAAT) and Magpas Air Ambulance received £3.6 million of the £10 million set aside by Chancellor Philip Hammond to help the 18 Air Ambulance charities in England with capital projects. Applications were restricted to two million pounds per charity.

EAAA, which serves Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire, was successful in its application, and has been awarded the full amount of funding applied for: a total of £790,313.

EAAA will use these additional funds to bolster a variety of on-going capital projects, including:

• The renovation of the charity’s Norwich Base, to enable its helicopter to fly 24/7 from 2020, the first air ambulance in the East of England to do so.
• The purchase of two additional rapid response vehicles, which ensure the charity’s expert crew can access patients night or day, especially in built up areas, where it can be difficult to land the helicopter.
• The purchase of upgraded night-vision goggles to better equip the charity to fly 24/7 from 2020.
• The installation of a new aircraft hangar closer to the Cambridge Base to increase our service availability and allow us to reach more patients.
• The installation of an immersive training suite for crew at the new Norwich base to better prepare our teams for challenging conditions on-scene.

“Although air ambulance charities are primarily community-funded, relying on the general public for millions of pounds every year to keep the helicopters flying, these one-off government grants for capital projects – such as for improvements to our bases and the purchase of rapid response vehicles – are a huge boost to our work and enable us to get these big, one-off projects moving much quicker. It’s great to see that so much of this government funding has been spent in the East of England and will make a huge difference to the level of emergency medical care available in the region.”

Patrick Peal

CEO of EAAA