Appeal launched to buy second air ambulance

Kent, Surrey and Sussex air ambulance crews are called out on average nine times every day

An appeal to buy a second rescue helicopter for the only air ambulance service in the south-east of England has been launched.

Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS) said it wanted to raise £1m to buy its second helicopter outright.

The vehicle, based in Redhill, Surrey, is currently on lease.

KSS said owning the vehicle outright would save it £500,000 every year enabling it to fly for six more hours every day.

The Buy it for Life fundraising appeal will give donors the chance to have their name on the charity's air ambulance.

The charity said it only had until May to buy the ambulance outright.

David Welch, chief executive of KSS, told BBC Radio Surrey: “Demand for our service has been growing year-on-year and has never been greater.

"Last year we made a record number of over 3,300 missions to people in urgent need of our lifesaving care.

"We must continue to respond to this growing need, now and into the future."

Kate Mellor was rescued by the air ambulance after falling down stairs

Kate Mellor, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, slipped down stairs and lay injured and undiscovered for 15 hours in a diabetic coma.

She said the "knowledge and experience" the air ambulance crew brought "to get me to hospital while treating me on the way is what made the difference".

Chris Pounds from Tonbridge, Kent, needed critical care after becoming trapped under his tractor.

He said: “It was the medical intervention that they brought to me, lying in a field with crush injuries, that saved my life."

Sarah Khadka-Lowe, from Cobham, Surrey, said: "We are so grateful to KSS for coming out to support my husband Saroj in his hour of need when he had a massive cardiac arrest.

"It was the expertise and equipment they brought that helped save him."

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