Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance Case Study

Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance are a registered charity providing a vital life-saving service for the people of Dorset & Somerset. The air base is in Henstridge, a rural area previously cut off from fast Internet. As soon as we expanded our coverage into Henstridge earlier this year, we offered Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance a free Internet connection and installation.

The Problem

Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance operate a Eurocopter EC135 helicopter from their airbase in Henstridge, on the Dorset and Somerset border. From there, they can be at any point in the two counties in less than 20 minutes of receiving an emergency call. More importantly, the helicopter can then take a patient to any one of the Major Trauma Centres in the South West within a further 20 minutes. They are currently building a modern clinical training and aviation planning facility at their airbase and take delivery of a brand new AW169 helicopter in November.

However, Henstridge was an area that was completely cut off from fast Internet. The aircraft maintainer that supports the team’s helicopter had to pay for an extremely expensive leased line just for themselves, but unfortunately the air ambulance team were not able to use this and had to put up with poor speeds of less than 2 Mb/s.

Our Solution

As soon as we expanded our coverage into Henstridge earlier this year, we offered Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance a free Internet connection and installation. We did this because we know that they offer a vital service to the local communities and save lives every single day. Plus, our founders ride both motorbikes and horses and are very aware of the value of the Air Ambulance service to the rural community.

The Result

Our superfast Internet connection allows the pilots and entire air ambulance team to access the Internet at their base for whatever they may need to do. They are no longer cut off from fast Internet and they can log important medical data and details from their missions every day.

Bill Sivewright, SEO explains, ”As part of the ongoing development of our service, we are developing a database (PHEMNET) to record the clinical details for all our missions. PHEMNET will enable us to provide sound analysis of each mission so that lessons learned can be shared, not just internally but also, with confidence to external organisations nationally. The aim is to access this database remotely whilst on scene so that data is not lost or forgotten and so that the data is available wherever needed for analysis. Therefore, fast and efficient broadband access is a vital component. ‘Cometh the hour, cometh the broadband provider’. Although some of the elements of database architecture are not quite ready yet, we are confident that we now have the all-important bearer in place thanks to Wessex Internet. Their generosity will help us continue providing the best possible air ambulance service for the people of Dorset and Somerset.”

If you wish to make a donation to help fund the life-saving work of the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, please visit their website here.