Military helicopters have been deployed across the country to carry coronavirus patients to hospital as part of a new task force which is the first of its kind.
The Ministry of Defence has set up a new Joint Helicopter Aviation Task Force which includes a total of 13 helicopters which will pick up critically ill Britons.
There are 300 personnel deployed to the task force, flying and maintaining the helicopters in different regions across the UK.
The Ministry of Defence has set up a new Joint Helicopter Aviation Task Force which includes a total of 13 helicopters which will pick up critically ill Britons. Pictured: NHS staff and Air Ambulance Service crews work to remove a stretcher from a Chinook at Thruxton Aerodrome in Andover, Hampshire, on Thursday
There are 300 personnel deployed to the task force, flying and maintaining the helicopters in different regions across the UK (pictured, in Andover on Thursday)
The helicopters will take patients from more remote areas to major hospitals that have free intensive care beds as smaller hospitals struggle to cope (pictured, in Andover on Thursday)
The helicopters will take patients from more remote areas to major hospitals that have free intensive care beds as smaller hospitals struggle to cope.
They could also be used to fly vital medicines and medical equipment to specific areas and even specialist doctors to visit patients.
A Chinook has practised drills landing at London City Airport next to the new NHS Nightingale hospital at London’s ExCel centre in the past month.
Those helicopters covering the South West, for example, will carry patients from remote areas such as the Channel Isles and Scilly Isles to hospitals in the mainland.
They could also pick up patients from areas in Cornwall where there are limited primary care facilities and take them to larger hospitals.
They could also be used to fly vital medicines and medical equipment to specific areas and even specialist doctors to visit patients. Pictured: Andover on Thursday
A Chinook has practised drills landing at London City Airport next to the new NHS Nightingale hospital at London’s ExCel centre in the past month. Pictured: Another training exercise at Andover on Thursday
They could also pick up patients from areas in Cornwall where there are limited primary care facilities and take them to larger hospitals. Pictured: Andover on Thursday
This week around 30 military personnel and civilian medics undertook joint training at Thruxton Aerodrome in Hampshire.
They simulated loading patients on stretchers and hooked up to ventilators into the aircraft.
The drills fed into new standard operating procedures to be drawn up for military aircrew and NHS medics across the country.
This marks the first ever large scale collaboration linking military helicopters and their crew with health service paramedics.
Commander Chris Knowles, Commanding Officer, 820 Navy Air Squadron, said: ‘One of the reasons we’re standing by is the particular pressures that could come on the NHS if you ended up with a hot spot.
This week around 30 military personnel and civilian medics undertook joint training at Thruxton Aerodrome in Hampshire (pictured on Thursday)
They simulated loading patients on stretchers and hooked up to ventilators into the aircraft at Andover on Thursday (pictured). The drills fed into new standard operating procedures to be drawn up for military aircrew and NHS medics
‘There is only one accident and emergency centre in Cornwall, which is in Truro, the next nearest major hospital is up at Derriford in Plymouth.
‘So there’s not a great deal of primary care around. Everywhere else is cottage hospitals.
‘I think we might be initially moving people out of areas that are difficult to get to – especially the Scilly Isles, places like that, to primary care.’
The 43-year-old, married father-of-two, works at RAF Culdrose in Cornwall.
The squadron’s Merlin Mk2 helicopters are usually used for anti-submarine warfare and would normally be on the state-of-the-art aircraft carriers.
Now they will be used to transport up to four critically ill patients at any one time.
He said: ‘Everything we do is based on the advice of medical experts at the time.
‘Whether the priority is smoothness for the patient, whether the priority is speed, or whether the priority is maintaining a low altitude.
This marks the first ever large scale collaboration linking military helicopters and their crew with health service paramedics
‘The squadron are quite experienced – they deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and there are crew members who’ve done this previously in combat.’
The Iraq war veteran said for respiratory diseases the helicopters needed to maintain a relatively low altitude.
He said of the Covid-19 mission: ‘As a whole squadron we thought it was a great opportunity to be able to do our part, help our colleagues in the NHS.
‘This is a whole-nation effort and it’s a real team work piece for us.’
He suggested there could be an impact on other operations but that at the moment ‘the focus of the nation is on dealing with this’.
The task force includes three Royal Navy Merlin helicopters on standby at RNAS Culdrose to support Southern England, the Channel Islands and Isles of Scilly.
Three RAF Puma helicopters are detached to Kinloss Barracks in Moray, Scotland to support requests for assistance from the NHS in Scotland and Northern England.
The 43-year-old, married father-of-two, works at RAF Culdrose in Cornwall. The squadron’s Merlin Mk2 helicopters are usually used for anti-submarine warfare and would normally be on the state-of-the-art aircraft carriers. Now they will be used to transport up to four critically ill patients at any one time. Pictured: The back of a Chinook at Andover on Thursday
Three RAF Chinook helicopters are on standby at RAF Odiham in Hampshire and a further two Army Air Corps Wildcat are on standby at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset.
In addition, two Army Air Corps Wildcat helicopters have been detached to RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire, to support requests in Northern England.
The 300 personnel could work with up to hundreds of NHS and air ambulance paramedics in coming weeks and months.
In addition to the helicopters, an A400M Atlas aircraft based at RAF Brize Norton could shift patients and equipment if needed.
Dr Simon Hughes, an anaesthetist from HEMS (helicopter emergency medical services) said: ‘It’s absolutely fantastic.
‘This is a marriage, if you like, between the highly capable RAF and Royal Navy, and the professionalism and capabilities of Southampton Air Ambulance.’
The 47-year-old married father-of-two, who used to be in the RAF for 16 years, added: ‘We are on standby to assist the evacuation of any critically ill patients from within and without our normal area.
The Hampshire and Isle of Wight air ambulance helicopter is seen at Thruxton Aerodrome as members of the UK Armed Forces work with NHS medical staff and Air Ambulance Service crews on Thursday in Andover
‘On the Chinook we can be taking up to two ventilated patients. The size of the aircraft allows the RAF staff to maintain a safe distance from us and the patient.’
Flight Lieutenant Paul Huyton, 27 Squadron, who is Captain of a Chinook, said: ‘Previously when we’ve done medical-style response, it was in Afghanistan.
‘Very rarely do we get to aid the civil authorities (in the UK). There’s a lot of planning for something we didn’t really see coming.’
The 30-year-old added: ‘The biggest challenge is protecting ourselves against the disease – working within two metres of potentially infected patients.’
He added: ‘I’m a fairly new captain, so it’s quite a privilege to be a captain of a crew that does something like this.
‘Helping out the civil authorities, making a difference, it’s quite a privilege.’
General Tyrone Urch, Commander Standing Joint Command (UK) said: ‘This is a perfect example of the military’s role in supporting the NHS and our emergency services.
‘The pilots and crews from across the Aviation Task Force have years of experience of challenging casualty evacuations from operations in the UK and abroad.
‘The training in Thruxton brings these skills to the service of the NHS and continues to build the partnership with our frontline clinical staff that is vital to our battle against the coronavirus.’