The strategic partnership between London’s Air Ambulance and International SOS has opened doors and generated revenue, says Harry Selley

London’s Air Ambulance is the charity that delivers an advanced trauma team to critically injured people in London. While we rely heavily on donations and fundraising to maintain and enhance our service, there also exists a niche set of organisations that we can partner with to help deliver our mission and benefit our patients.

Often, we’ve partnered on an ad hoc basis with other emergency services and air ambulances worldwide to share skills and best practice, but recently we took this a step further and entered into a strategic alliance with International SOS. This presented a unique opportunity for us.

International SOS is the world's leading medical and security services company, operating from over 700 sites in 76 countries with 10,000 employees. Its global services include medical and risk planning, preventative programs, in-country expertise and emergency response for travellers, expatriates and their dependents of over 70 percent of the Fortune 500 companies.

International SOS is a very natural fit for us; there are many synergies between our organisations and, most importantly, a shared vision. While different in the sense that London’s Air Ambulance delivers this care to patients in London, while International SOS does so globally, both organisations aim to save and better people’s lives by providing emergency medical care to those who need it most. Both understand the value of providing quick and effective care in exceptional circumstances, and both are experts in a niche field that requires a special set of skills and competencies.

A healthy relationship

That shared skill set and mission means that International SOS and London’s Air Ambulance connect on many levels. When it comes to leadership, medical expertise and operational matters, we’re on the same page and are both extremely passionate about what we do, and so we knew that supporting each other in achieving our goals would be of great benefit to our respective patients.

In fact, the natural ties are such that some doctors that have worked for our service have also coordinated and advised on trauma response abroad for International SOS. London’s Air Ambulance attracts some of the best doctors from around the world, who each join us for six months at a time. These doctors come to learn from us, but also bring skills with them, which they share. An elite group of trauma specialists spans the globe and, despite covering such a large area, they all seem to know each other. I’m often asked by International SOS staff from places as far away such as South Africa and Australia whether I can put them in contact with a doctor at London’s Air Ambulance who they have previously worked or studied with.

International SOS has kindly supported us through donations, both on a corporate level and through staff fundraising efforts. This kind of support is fundamental in enabling us to carry out our life-saving work, as well as developing the service we offer in order to reach more patients, and deliver enhanced care.

One of the main goals of the partnership is to work towards extending our daylight flying hours, which will enable us to almost double our operational hours during the summer months. To do this will cost money, as we will need to employ more pilots and fire crew, and helicopter costs will increase. Much of the money raised in conjunction with International SOS will be used to support these efforts.

Raising awareness

We kicked off the partnership with an awareness event, ‘fit to fly’, where both employees from International SOS and local businesses were invited to learn more about us and meet our team. Corporates introducing us to their networks is like gold dust. We have a corporate development team to research and identify potential partners, but when organisations open up their networks it saves months of work. Also, it carries more kudos when you are personally introduced, a benefit which is not to be underestimated.

As well as providing financial and corporate support, International SOS is able to draw on its experience of delivering and coordinating medical care and logistics globally, to help us develop our educational and training programmes. Equally, we are able to provide International SOS staff with a unique opportunity to experience cutting-edge advanced trauma care through observing our team at work, delivering bespoke training packages, or inviting employees to take part in established training programmes such as our helicopter crew course. These skill swaps not only enhance the services that we each provide, but also help to raise our profile globally, ensuring that we continue to attract the best doctors from around the world.

A vital service

Emergency medical care is an everyday necessity that is often overlooked.  The more that people are aware of the necessity of this care, the more our services will be valued and invested in. In this sense our partnership with International SOS is invaluable, as the success and growth of our organisations is mutually beneficial.

Genuinely ‘strategic’ partnerships like this are essential to the success of London’s Air Ambulance, and for the charity sector as a whole. The team at International SOS really understand how vital London’s Air Ambulance is, not only for London, but globally through its training of doctors and medical innovations. For this reason, they are very keen to get involved in any way they can, and the buy-in from staff has been outstanding.

Although the partnership is still in early days, we have already learnt from this that a genuinely strategic partnership with an organisation that has a natural alignment with what you are trying to achieve is well worth the time and effort.

London’s Air Ambulance delivers advanced trauma care to critically injured people in London. Its trauma team provides pre-hospital medical care at the scene of the incident. The organisation serves the 10 million people who live, work and commute within the M25. It seeks to push the boundaries in medicine to save lives, and its pioneering procedures have been adopted across the world.

Harry Selley is corporate partnerships manager at London’s Air Ambulance

This article first appeared in The Fundraiser magazine, Issue 30 June 2013