In 2020, Cornwall Air Ambulance carried out 16 inter-hospital transfers. This is when the helicopter is tasked to convey patients from one hospital to another when specialist treatment is needed. It is a small proportion of the work the air ambulance carries out, but no less significant. Every figure represents a patient and the speed of a transfer by air can have a huge benefit to their outcome.

Seven-year-old Ned was one of those patients on 7 October 2020. He needed specialist care when he suffered a brain bleed. His mum Abi recalls the day they will never forget, and why they are keen to support the air ambulance for the next patient in need.

“Ned complained of a headache at school and wasn’t really feeling himself that day. He woke at 5am in agony. The SWASFT ambulance arrived quickly; Ned was in and out of consciousness by then. I could tell it was something serious.

“Ned was rushed to Royal Cornwall Hospital in an ambulance. By 6.30am he was having scans and had been put into an induced coma. It became evident he needed to be transferred to the specialist children’s hospital in Bristol for surgery.

“I was so desperate to get the air ambulance, the weather was good, we had so many bits of luck. I went in the helicopter with Ned, there was a paramedic and doctor with us. I remember looking down over Cornwall and watching everyone going about their lives, meanwhile I was there with Ned thinking we are going to lose him. At that point I was mentally preparing for the worst.