Magpas Air Ambulance provides the very best pre-hospital emergency care, in the air or on land, including treatments usually only available in hospital.

Operating 24/7, the charity answers an average of four calls for help a day, treating around 900 patients in life-threatening emergencies every year.

Magpas Air Ambulance serves the communities of Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and across the East of England and is dispatched by both the East of England and the East Midlands Ambulance Service Trusts—caring for a population of over 10 million.

Our advanced medical team combines the skills of a senior doctor and critical care paramedic on every shift. All members of the team are specially trained in Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine (PHEM), and support the ambulance service by bringing advanced medical care directly to their patients’ side when time is of the essence.

Clinical governance

Clinical governance relates to quality, accountability, responsibility, safety and excellence—all of which are fundamental to the charity’s organisational culture and philosophy.

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Our frontline team

On every shift, our medical team combines the skills of a doctor and critical care paramedic. Our doctors are specialists in Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine (PHEM), and work together with our critical care paramedics who are highly trained experts with significant experience in immediate care. All of whom have studied, trained and worked in their relevant fields for many years to reach this point in their career. 

Our helicopter is flown by qualified Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) pilots, who quickly get our clinical team to the scene of an incident—wherever it is—when time is of the essence. Our pilot is always accompanied by a Technical Crew Member (TCM), who assists with navigation and on-board computer systems, as well as looking out for dangers both in the air and on the ground.

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Additional services

As well as operating a helicopter and Rapid Response Vehicles (RRVs) out of our base in Huntingdon, Magpas Air Ambulance offer two additional road-based services in the East of England.

Luton service

In 2020, Magpas Air Ambulance launched a specialised road-based service in Luton, Bedfordshire; bringing an advanced level of emergency medical care to the town and surrounding areas, and improving response times to the area by up to 40 minutes on average.

The dedicated RRV, based in the heart of the town, is equipped with lifesaving equipment and drugs; the majority of which are not carried by standard land ambulances. The service is provided from 12:30 pm–1 am on Wednesdays and Thursdays—when the charity’s research showed demand for critical care in the area to be at its highest.

Magpas Air Ambulance’s local presence in Luton not only assists the existing ambulance service, but enhances the standard of emergency care available.

Advanced Paramedic service

Magpas Air Ambulance is fortunate to have some extremely experienced critical care paramedics in its cohort with extensive experience in emergency care. Four of these clinicians have taken on new roles within the East of England Ambulance Service as Advanced Paramedics in Critical Care.

This new development, working in partnership with Magpas Air Ambulance, enables these advanced paramedics to not only work as part of a doctor and paramedic team flying on the air ambulance, but also to provide critical care working alone in an RRV. This vehicle is currently predominantly based in Peterborough, giving the city and surrounding areas dedicated and rapid access to advanced medical care—though the team may be deployed to any areas of need in the region.

Magpas Air Ambulance is proud to be the first air ambulance charity to work collaboratively with the East of England Ambulance Service to deliver this new resource.

Our fleet of vehicles

The Magpas Air Ambulance fleet is made up of one helicopter and three emergency response vehicles, each equipped with the latest lifesaving technology.

Each vehicle carries...

A hospital-standard ventilator

A portable ultrasound device

Equipment to perform surgical procedures

... As well as all the other advanced medication and equipment needed to save lives 24/7.

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Our partners

The best patient outcomes are gained from working as a team. We are proud to work with so many outstanding organisations in the work we do—learn more about our ambulance service, hospital, air ambulance, NHS and emergency service partnerships.

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