Lucy Air Ambulance for Children: Flying Children to Hospitals Across the UK

Lucy Air Ambulance for Children (Lucy AAC) is the only charity in the UK that funds flights for children to hospital by aeroplane. Our service is required when transfer by NHS road ambulance or rotary air ambulance would either be impractical or harmful to the child’s health.

Our service helps save children’s lives by providing access to life-saving transplants and treatment for life-threatening diseases like cancer.

Olivia-Grace

Olivia-Grace was diagnosed with leukaemia at 4 months old. To stabilise her condition, Lucy AAC flew Olivia-Grace 300 miles from the Great North Children’s Hospital to Great Ormond Street Hospital to receive a specialist treatment called CAR T cell therapy, and then back to Great North Children’s Hospital so that she could receive a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy to ensure the cancer was eradicated.

In October 2021, she rang the bell outside her hospital ward – she was cancer free. Through Lucy AAC’s intervention, Olivia-Grace was able to go home from hospital for the first time in seven months (over half her life). This transfer gave Olivia-Grace’s family one last option for their little girl and helped save her life.

Life changing Urgent Care for the Young 

Who is Lucy AAC? 

We are a national charity that ensures babies and critically ill children can access specialist treatment and care, wherever they are in the UK. Often the only way these children can access this care is to travel between hospitals by aeroplane and we are the only air ambulance charity in the UK that provides this unique service. Our transfers provide lifechanging outcomes for the children we fly, including: children being discharged from long hospital stays, overcoming diseases like cancer, and receiving a diagnosis which finally enables families to gain new support from other organisations that are disease/disability specific.

Each Lucy air ambulance transfer costs our charity on average £9,300. This includes

• Medical staff needed during a transfer - each flight is staffed with either a consultant neonatologist/paediatrician, a flight nurse and a paramedic (£1,100)
• Road ambulances at both referring and receiving ends (£1,500)
• Aircraft costs including fuel, landing and handling fees and parking (£6,700)

Why we need your help now… 

We are helping as many families as possible but the need for our service is growing. In 2021 we were required to do 23% more transfers than the previous year and are already seeing a further increase in demand for our service in 2022.

Each week a child is referred to our Charity needing a transfer by aeroplane between hospitals. We work in partnership with air ambulance providers and NHS transport teams throughout the UK by providing funding to make these flights happen. On average each transfer costs Lucy AAC £9,300. The NHS does not have any budget for air ambulance transfers and relies on Lucy AAC to provide this

essential service at no cost. Without our service, many children would not have access to the essential specialist treatment and care they need - which in many cases is lifesaving.

Any parent with a seriously ill child just wants their child to get better. We believe that safe, long distance air transfers within the UK should be available for any child needing one, regardless of distance or cost.

Due to current funding we are only able to fly 2 out of every 4 children that need our crucial service. We believe every child is important and deserves the right treatment, in the right place, at the right time. With your help, we can reach every child that needs our Air Ambulance Service!

How you can support Lucy Air Ambulance for Children?

Head over to the charity poll now to vote for Lucy AAC! Every month, My Favourite Voucher Codes run a charity poll, and the winner receives 20% of their profits. The winner of the poll is decided by the visitors to their site, and all you need to do is cast your vote for one of three non-profit organisations. We are in competition with two other charities and we need your help as the charity with the most votes wins the donation! Voting is 100% free and 100% easy! To vote, all you need to do is head to their home page, find the poll on the right hand side (or at the bottom of the page on mobile), select Lucy Air Ambulance for Children and confirm your say by clicking on the vote button. Simple as that.

You can also get involved by making a donation, help us by volunteering at one of our upcoming events, or why not sign up to take on one of our charity challenges? We would love to hear from you so please do get in touch with the team at Info@lucyaac.og.uk.

• · £10 – could pay for a special mask that will support a premature baby’s breathing during a flight.
• · £15 –  could pay for a ‘Lucy Bear’. Each child we fly receives a Lucy Bear. Our Lucy Bears give great cuddles.
• · £25 – could pay for ECG dots to help monitor a child’s heart activity during a flight. 
• · £250 – could pay for all the essential single-use medical items needed during a transfer
• · £475 – could pay for a specialist nurse or paramedic to care for a child during a flight.
• · £1,100 – could pay for the whole medical team needed during a transfer.

Find out more about Lucy Air Ambulance for Children:

To find out more about our vital service or read more about some of the children that we have helped, visit www.lucyaac.org.uk.

Don’t forget to follow us on social media for all the latest news and updates!

• · Facebook www.facebook.com/Lucyairambulance
• · Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lucyairambulanceforchildren/
• · LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/lucy-air-ambulance-for-children
• · Twitter https://twitter.com/LucyAAC 

Please cast your vote for Lucy Air Ambulance for Children and help fund our vital service!
Thank you for supporting us and helping us reach every child that needs us