Great North Air Ambulance Service expands night-time services in Cumbria

The charity also recently added a new Volvo XC90 to their fleet, which was funded by Keswick fundraiser ‘Max Out in the Lake District’. Credit: Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS)

Life-saving rapid response vehicles will be operating even more during the hours of darkness to provide enhanced critical care to people living in Cumbria.

The Great North Air Ambulance Service will now run four nights a week with the charity one step closer to providing critical care 24/7 in Cumbria.

The night-time service was initially launched in May 2021 and operates between 8pm and 8am when the charity's air ambulances do not fly. The car carries the exact same equipment and is staffed by a paramedic and a doctor.

David Stockton, chief executive officer at GNAAS, said: “Becoming a 24/7 service has been a long-term goal of the charity, and a personal ambition of myself, so we’re very proud to continue that journey. 

“Our team can now deliver a high level of pre-hospital care to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the North East, and we are now covering seven days and four nights in Cumbria, with an expectation to add more evenings over the coming months.”

The charity has been working to fund the additional nights, meaning they are getting closer to providing a 24/7 service in Cumbria. Credit: GNAAS

Last year the rapid response vehicles were deployed 154 times to incidents in Cumbria including road traffic collisions and cardiac arrests.

The charity also recently added a new Volvo XC90 to their fleet, which was funded by Keswick fundraiser ‘Max Out in the Lake District’.

Kerry Irving and his spaniel dogs Max, Paddy and Harry have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for various charities over the years after gaining a huge international following on their social media pages.

Mr Irving said: “Helping others in need is the greatest gift we can all give, and our community-funded critical care vehicle given to GNAAS will help thousands of people in their hour of need.”

GNAAS does not receive government funding and to provide the service it provides it needs to raise £7.7m a year to remain operational. This is through public donations.

Andy Mawson, director of operations at GNAAS, added: “Providing a professional and high-quality critical care team in Cumbria is a huge challenge, especially at night.

“We have been able to develop the systems and techniques to allow safe and effective care and transfers at night, to ensure the people of Cumbria have the best possible chance of reaching definitive care in the event of critical injury or illness. 

“So due to the size of Cumbria it may be that a patient has reached an A&E department before our team can reach them, so we have expanded our practice to even higher levels to ensure care that is begun in hospital can be maintained in the event of a transfer to the North East.”

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...