The Midlands Air Ambulance was first registered as a charity in 1990, and started using the County Air Ambulance name in 1993. The role of the charity is the provision of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services in the Midland Counties of England. It also provides secondary support to neighbouring counties. It responds to 2,000 potentially life saving missions every year. At launch, the Midlands Air Ambulance operated a single helicopter based at Halfpenny Green Airport and, at its peak, had grown to operating three aircraft covering across twelve counties of England and Wales. The reduction in areas covered began in 2006 and was largely due to other air ambulance charities setting up or expanding and to consolidation of West Midlands Ambulance Service assets in the WMAS areas of responsibility. The operating name was changed back to Midlands Air Ambulance in 2009 to reflect the smaller area covered. Until 31 March 2008, the charity also served the East Midlands Ambulance Service area, based at East Midlands Airport, but, after some political wrangling between WMAS and EMAS, the aircraft was withdrawn and redeployed into Tatenhill, Staffordshire. From 3 April 2014, the MAA officially unveiled its first wholly owned helicopter, which replaced one of the three leased aircraft. In September 2015, three members of the Midlands Air Ambulance team were honoured with a Pride of Britain Award following their heroic response to a roller coaster crash at Alton Towers. In November 2017, doctors began working all shifts from all three airbases, working alongside a paramedic and pilot. Previously, only RAF Cosford had a doctor on-duty on a daily basis, leaving the other two bases with dual paramedic coverage. On 20 February 2018, MAAC received a brand new Airbus Helicopters H145, the second aircraft owned by the charity. The aircraft was handed over at the Strensham services base, before being transferred to RAF Cosford.
Organisation
The charity is supported by paramedics from the West Midlands Ambulance Service and doctors from their respective NHS trusts. The charity is funded entirely by charitable donations given by corporate organisations and members of the public. In 2007/2008, the charity had an income of £6,222,000. The charity should not be confused with the County Air Ambulance Trust, which is a separate registered charity. That charity raises money for the provision of infrastructure items and also make an annual contribution towards a number of air ambulance charities, including the Midlands Air Ambulance.
Each helicopter is crewed by one pilot, one doctor and one paramedics, or occasionally one doctor and two paramedics. The paramedics are seconded from the West Midlands Ambulance Service. The pilots, one leased aircraft and maintenance are provided by Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore.
