Embrace soars past impressive flight milestone

Embrace has reached 500 fixed wing and helicopter flights transporting babies, children and young people.  

Embrace, part of Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, is a highly specialist, round-the-clock transport service for critically ill infants and children in Yorkshire and the Humber who require care in another hospital in the region or further afield.

Each year the specialist teams of nurses, advanced nurse practitioners, doctors and drivers, supported by a dedicated administration team, transfer around 2,000 infants and children by road ambulances, helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. 

Patients require flight transfer either for emergency treatment in a distant hospital or for repatriation to a hospital closer to home after specialist treatment. Some of the longest transfers are after patients have become critically ill or been born prematurely while their families are on holiday. 

Lots of parents and carers have experienced Embrace’s compassionate care when their child has been transported.  

One of them, Malika said: “We knew immediately that Harriet was in safe hands. Everyone was fantastic and incredibly supportive during such a distressing period of our lives. The pilots and Embrace team working together were so efficient and professional. They made it OK for us to give our four-day-old daughter to people we didn’t know. We instantly trusted them and couldn’t fault anything they did for our baby girl.”  

Over 300 of Embrace’s helicopter flights have been made possible by the Children’s Air Ambulance (TCAA).  

Dr Elle Jordan, Sheffield Children’s Embrace Transport Consultant and Embrace Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for TCAA , said: “We are proud of our work with TCAA. To have flown 300 missions with them is an incredible achievement, alongside our 500th flight. It has been a busy year! Working with TCAA is a privilege and we are grateful for their support in helping us provide excellent care to our patients.”  

TCAA also have a shared history with Sheffield Children’s as our hospital was the location of their first flight! 

Embrace is the only critical care transport team in the UK to be fully accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems – Global (CAMTS-Global). CAMTS-Global is a Swiss-based organisation dedicated to improving the quality of patient care and safety of the transport environment.  

2024 is a year of milestones for Embrace – 500 flights and now also set to grow the service further by moving to a larger premises later this year, watch this space!