The awards, sponsored by Kwik Fit, celebrate excellence among those involved in the lifesaving work of air ambulance charities across the UK. They recognise the outstanding achievements of charity teams, campaigns, innovations, volunteers and young people, as well as clinical and aviation excellence. 

KSS was proud to win Campaign of the Year for the charity’s recent Buy it for Life campaign which was launched in April in response to an urgent time-limited opportunity to buy its second helicopter. Thanks to the incredible work of Team KSS, and the phenomenal response from thousands of supporters across Kent, Surrey and Sussex, the campaign reached its £1M target in just six weeks. It went on to raise £2M, and the charity has now been able to purchase its helicopter and continue with its strategic plans to develop its service so that it can reach more patients and save even more lives into the future. 

KSS partnered with Open Creates and Join the Dots to create the powerful campaign, and both were instrumental in its enormous success, which will have a lifesaving impact for thousands of people. 

KSS was also honoured to win Innovation of the Year for its Restart a Heart Day campaign 2023 which saw the charity equip over 17,000 children and adults in just one day with the lifesaving skills of CPR and defibrillation through a series of new and innovative online training sessions to help save the lives of more people experiencing cardiac arrest.  

Since the Awards of Excellence nominations closed, KSS has held its Restart a Heart Day 2024 campaign which hugely built of the success of 2023. Over 80,000 people took part in this year’s even bigger series of face-to-face and online events. To access the free 30-minutes online CPR and defibrillations training, provided by expert KSS doctors and paramedics, visit aakss.org.uk/restart. 

David Welch, Chief Executive of KSS, said: “I’m so very proud of both these awards, and more importantly, the exceptional team who worked incredibly hard to deliver both these initiatives, embodying our values in their commitment to our patients and the communities we serve. 

“We’ve been truly overwhelmed by the phenomenal response from thousands of people within our communities to both our Buy it For Life appeal and our Restart a Heart Day CPR and defibrillation training. Neither would have been so successful without the incredible support of our communities. There is no doubt in my mind that, together, KSS will continue to reach even more patients and save more lives.” 

Ben Paul. KSS Paramedic and Education Manager, said: “We’re so proud to have won Innovation of the Year as part of our work to equip as many people as possible in our communities with lifesaving skills. This wouldn’t have been possible without all the hard work of staff and volunteers across the charity and the amazing engagement and interest from thousands of individuals, schools, businesses, community groups and other organisations.” 

As well as winning two awards, Team KSS was also proud to be shortlisted for Charity Team of the Year.