Great North Air Ambulance Service to trial US methods

Dr Simon Le Clerc of the Great North Air Ambulance Service. Credit: Great North Air Ambulance Service

The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) is set to trial new equipment and techniques for treating seriously injured patients.

GNAAS aircrew doctor Simon Le Clerc, from Catterick, went to the US on a fact-finding mission to assess how they treat non-compressible torso bleeding before reaching hospital.

Most common in road traffic incidents and bad falls, this type of bleeding is notoriously difficult to treat before the patient makes it to hospital.

The GNAAS, which covers areas between the Scottish Borders and North Yorkshire, is now going to trial some of the methods Dr Le Clerc has been studying.

Dr Le Clerc will be working with hospitals across the region to develop the trials.

Last year, the GNAAS responded to 1,042 call-outs across the region.