A rare chance to see up close the life-saving work of the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance

Airing on Sunday 22 May on More 4 and All 4, a new series of Emergency Helicopter Medics will be highlighting the work of the helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) teams at Essex & Herts Air Ambulance.

Film crews were given rare access to travel and record, the charity’s doctors, paramedics and pilots, as they attended incidents around the two counties. The filming and interviews took place during September and October last year, and viewers will be gripped by this unique access to what are very real life emergencies taking place on our doorstep.

The 10 episodes will make for compulsive viewing, and may not be for the faint hearted, as the charity’s clinical teams will be filmed up close, attending to patients in life or death situations.

In all, 16 members of the HEMS teams at Essex & Herts Air Ambulance took part in the filming and there will be six individual stories going out over the 10 week period, which will also feature some of the other air ambulances across the UK.

Pam Withrington, Fundraising and Marketing Director at Essex & Herts Air Ambulance urges people to tune into watch the programme.

“This is a very rare chance to really see close up the valuable lifesaving work we do as a charity. We deliver a first class pre-hospital emergency medical service to the people of Essex, Hertfordshire and surrounding areas, taking the hospital to the patient, delivering advanced care to people who are very often experiencing the worst days of their lives. And any one of us could need this service at any moment.

“The service is provided free of charge, but the charity receives limited direct funding from the Government and none from the National Lottery. It costs in excess of £750,000 every month to keep the service operational and cover all charitable costs, and this would not be possible without the generosity and goodwill of people in Essex, and Hertfordshire.”