Great North Air Ambulance Service

No two days are the same for the Great North Air Ambulance Service’s (GNAAS) critical care team, and when they’re called out to an incident, every minute counts.

To help with their efficiency of delivering life-saving care to critically ill or injured people, they developed state-of-the-art kit bags which function as a miniature on-the-move A&E unit and are worth £36,000.

GNAAS paramedic, Lee Salmon, was part of the team of five who came up with the concept.

Mr Salmon said: “These bags contain all our medical equipment and are a modular system, comprising of two main bags, a monitoring bag, and a procedure bag.

“They are also supported by small modules that can be clipped to each bag to change its operational capability, for example paediatric and obstetric incidents.”

Before the bags were designed, members of GNAAS’ critical care team would have to go back to the aircraft for certain pieces of equipment or ask the road ambulance crew to get the items that they couldn’t carry. This essentially created a time delay.

Hansell Composites from Stokesley, in the North East of England, helped GNAAS to design and manufacture the structure of the bag and Cumbrian-based mountain equipment manufacturer, Aiguille also collaborated with the team to create a bag that can carry a heavy load, safely and ergonomically.

Inside the bags are various pieces of life-saving equipment including a defibrillator and monitoring unit to look at patients’ observations.

One of the key pieces of equipment is an oxygen-driven ventilator, which helps to drive a mix of oxygen and air into the patient's lungs, taking over their need to breathe.

The ventilator is used for a whole host of injuries, including a significant chest injury and acute onset medical problems, but it is most often used for traumatic brain injuries.

It costs around £15,000 for the basic model, with the associated running costs per patient for infection control purposes at approximately £250.

The kit bags also contain a Butterfly ultrasound scanner which can be used to look at arteries and veins to find out if blood is where it shouldn’t be, and check that the lungs are working and if there is any air where it shouldn’t be.

This kit costs in the region of £2,000 for the scanner, then it connects to an iPad mini which is another cost, and then there’s an annual licence on the software of £1,000.

In addition to this, GNAAS started carrying blood on board all its flights in 2015. The innovation made an instant impact, saving lives across our region. But in the spirit of progress, they wanted to improve the way transfusions were delivered, and so in 2018, they introduced the MEQU blood warmer, which saves even more time, thus even more lives.

The MEQU warmers can warm up blood from cold to body temperature within seconds, making it safe to give to the patient and help prevent hypothermia and the complications from hypothermia.

Mr Salmon said: “The new bag system has helped save lives and justifies the time, cost, and collaborative approach to getting it right.

“We are always looking for new ventures, pieces of equipment, and possibilities on how to make people's lives better, and the public support in this endeavour is greatly appreciated.”

GNAAS relies on donations to survive. To find out more how you can support the charity, please visit www.gnaas.com or email sophie.vanhooven@gnaas.co.uk (fundraising lead for the Isle of Man)

About GNAAS

For more information visit: https://www.greatnorthairambulance.co.uk/ or follow @gnairambulance on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.