Great North Air Ambulance issues appeal after record call-outs

The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) is calling on the public's support after launching an appeal to help the team continue their vital service and reach the goal of 24/7 operation across the whole region.

The charity, which needs to raise £8.5m a year, recently expanded its all-night rapid response vehicle service in Cumbria to four nights a week, moving closer to providing 24/7 coverage.

Paramedic Gordon Ingram looking at the kit (Image: GNAAS)

The charity provides air ambulance services mainly during daylight hours, instead sending a skilled paramedic and doctor in a rapid response vehicle during the evenings in the North East and Cumbria.

This vehicle carries the same life-saving equipment as its airborne equivalent, enabling the team to provide critical care, including blood delivery, anaesthetic procedures, and other advanced treatments to patients in the region.

This January, it celebrated a landmark year of providing round-the-clock critical care in the North East.

However, these expansions have increased the need for funding.

Last year, the service responded to a record 2,100 incidents across the North East, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, Cumbria, Scotland and the Isle of Man in 2023.

Paramedic Lee Salmon with the car (Image: GNAAS)

David Stockton, chief executive at GNAAS, said: "Unfortunately, these essential expansions mean that we need to raise even more funds than before to keep our live-saving service running.

"The frightening truth is that for 2024 we are predicting to run at a deficit. This means we will have to go into our limited reserves just to keep the charity flying this year."

The charity resumed stable fundraising following the Covid-19 pandemic. Now it faces new hurdles, including the cost-of-living crisis.

"The life of a charity-funded service can be a tumultuous one, but it usually brings about the most amazing support from the general public," Mr Stockton added.

"Only with your continued generosity can we keep flying and saving lives across the region."Paramedic Gordon Ingram on a night shift (Image: GNAAS)

Last year, GNAAS teams based in the North East and Cumbria responded to an additional 745 nighttime incidents in their rapid response cars, providing medical expertise that would otherwise have been unavailable.

You can support the charity at gna.as/fun247.