Great North Air Ambulance Service set to extend the use of their critical care vehicle

The Great North Air Ambulance Service are extending the use of their critical care specialist vehicle.

The car, which are usually used to transport staff to incidents, will be used on Friday and Saturday nights to help NHS staff transfer patients from hospitals in Carlisle and Whitehaven to major trauma centres in the North East and the North West.

Normally their helicopters do not fly past 8pm, or during the hours of darkness therefore expanding the use of the car will help to save even more lives.

Dr John Ferris, Emergency Medical Specialist who flies with the Air Ambulance said: "We identified sometimes the sickest or most injured patients in the Cumbria area actually ended up in one of our emergency departments at the hospital before we got to the scene.

"So it seemed like a natural progression really to extend our care support to the NHS trust by going to the Emergency Departments, helping the teams in A&E with those patients and then being able to rapidly take that patient and move them to a centre that offers much more specialist care in Newcastle."

The charity says currently that those with life threatening injuries could have to wait to receive the urgent critical care that they need.

The Great North Air Ambulance Service are partnering up with the Great North Ambulance Service and combining their expertise to deliver the best possible care.