Cornwall Air Ambulance has been shortlisted in three categories for the Air Ambulances UK ‘Awards of Excellence 2023’.

The charity has been nominated for campaign of the year, charity team of the year and pilot of the year.

Their ‘Help Holly’ 2022 Christmas special animation is in the running for campaign of the year.  The finance and business intelligence team at Cornwall Air Ambulance have been nominated by the Great Western Air Ambulance Charity for team of the year. It follows collaborative work with other air ambulance charities. 

The Cornwall team have embarked on a bold programme to bring all their data sources together and use them, along with the power of modern data management tools, to generate useful insights around mission stats, fundraising campaigns, contact lists, and monthly account reports. They invited colleagues from other South West charities to the airbase to share their approach, enabling others to learn from the work they have undertaken.

Meanwhile, Captain Richard Dixon is in the running for pilot of the year. The charity says he can never do enough to help others and is always going out of his way to help patients, even when not on duty. Several months ago, whilst walking his dog in the woods, he heard a woman shouting and went to assist. He found the woman with a baby and standing over an unresponsive male. 

He recognised the man was in cardiac arrest, he performed CPR and called 999. Richard then ran approximately one mile up to the road to await the arrival of the Cornwall Air Ambulance duty crew on a RRV, directing them to the scene. 

Unfortunately, despite effective treatment, the patient passed away, but resuscitative attempts would not have even been started without the prompt initial treatment provided by Richard. 

Alongside this, Richard is always willing to help the clinical crew, including arranging logistics, liaising with emergency services and ferrying kit to and from the scene. His skills as a pilot have been demonstrated in the latest series of Cornwall Air 999, with one supporter even decided to make their own knitted version of him.

Simmy Akhtar, CEO of Air Ambulances UK, said: “Congratulations to all those who have been chosen as finalists for the Air Ambulances UK Awards of Excellence 2023. Thank you to those who submitted nominations for the awards. All nominees are extremely talented, and our judging panel had the unenviable task of finalising the shortlist for all categories. Thank you also to our judges for their time and commitment to this process. 

“We are extremely excited to welcome colleagues and peers to the awards ceremony and look forward to bringing our air ambulance community together at our annual conference and awards on November 30.”

The ceremony will be held in Reading.