Our two state-of-the-art helicopters, the Eurocopter EC-135 and the H145, operate up to 19 hours a day. Our Exeter-based night capable aircraft flies into the hours of darkness, enabling us to help even more patients.
Devon Air Ambulance Trading Company Limited (DAATCL) provides two free at the point of use, life-saving Air Ambulances in the county of Devon, in partnership with Devon Air Ambulance Trust.
A life-saving service
DAAT funds the provision of a dedicated team of specially-trained Air Ambulance dispatchers who work within the ambulance service emergency control room and monitor 999 calls. They deploy our two Air Ambulances to around 1,500 incidents each year to patients who are suffering from serious injury or illness.
Accidents and illness happen and when they do patients, whatever their age, circumstance or location, need specialist treatment fast. The speed with which our Air Ambulance Doctors and Paramedics can reach a patient, identify their time-critical needs and provide their specialist life-saving treatments and interventions to slow, halt or even reverse the effects of a life-threatening condition, is crucial in helping to achieve a successful outcome.
The right hospital
Patients can be airlifted in one of our helicopters, or our crew can transport a patient in a land ambulance, direct to a hospital which offers the most appropriate treatment for the patient’s condition. When a patient is flown by helicopter, they are able to access specialist treatments centres that are a considerable distance away, or even if in a different part of the country, which would be journey impracticable or unsafe to make by road.
Partnerships
Our service is delivered in a collaborative partnership between DAATCL and the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.
We deliver our service primarily in Devon, but on occasions when a patient is in need, we deliver support to our neighbouring counties of Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset when their local Air Ambulance is not available; an arrangement that is reciprocated by our neighbouring Air Ambulance charities when both our aircraft are committed.
