A team of 26 volunteers from London Ambulance Service will deliver ten reconditioned ambulances, filled with medical supplies to Poland to help humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

The team set out at 7am on Monday from Rainham, east London, to drive more than 1,100 miles over three days to Przemysl, Poland.

Polish Ambulance Service will receive the ambulances and two support vehicles before the Ukraine Ambulance Service and Medical Aid Ukraine volunteers then drive them into Ukraine.

The vehicles are former LAS ambulances that had been decommissioned from use but have now been refurbished by the Service’s fleet team.

Each ambulance is filled with donated medical equipment from LAS and other NHS bodies from around London.

The supplies include ventilators, syringe pumps, tourniquets, wound dressings, blizzard blankets and personal protective equipment (PPE).

London Ambulance Service’s Chief Executive, Daniel Elkele, thanked staff for volunteering and wished them a safe journey.

He said: “Staff and volunteers from across London Ambulance Service have been moved by the scenes of terrible suffering in Ukraine over the past few weeks.

“Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people and our colleagues in the Ukrainian emergency services who are caring for their fellow citizens injured in very difficult and distressing circumstances.

“I would like to pay tribute to our staff who have helped us to restore the vehicles, source donations and pack the ambulances, as well as volunteering to drive them across the continent.”

“This is testament to the commitment our staff and volunteers show in caring for those in need.

“I am truly proud of the teams involved, and that London Ambulance Service has been able to make this donation to the people of Ukraine.”

Eva Bartoskova, senior sector clinical lead at LAS, has been one of the key organisers in the campaign and has volunteered to drive one of the vehicles to Poland.

Eva said: “I was inspired by my family’s act of kindness in offering their home to Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic over the past few weeks.

“Being so far away in London, I wanted to still find a way to make a difference, no matter how small, to help the people of Ukraine during these incredibly difficult times.”

Paramedic Erica Greene’s thoughts were with colleagues in Ukraine’s ambulance service.

She said: “When something bad happens ambulance services are the ones who respond. I cannot imagine what it is like for them at the moment.”

Erica is sponsoring the vis application of 25-year-old Ukrainian from Lviv called Viktoria.

Erica said: “She is sending me videos of bombing.

“She must be so scared at the thought of having to come to another country.

“She knows where I am going to be and we hope she can meet up with me in Poland,” she added.