Great North Air Ambulance Service

A cyclist who was seriously injured in a collision during his commute to work has highlighted the importance of a Cumbria air ambulance’s night-time service.

Stephen Young, 49, from Grange-over-Sands, was travelling on the Allithwaite Road at approximately 5.30am on Monday 3 July 2023 when he was involved in a collision with a van.

Mr Young cannot recall what happened and sustained several injuries including an open distal femur fracture, a fractured kneecap, clavicle, and scapula, rib fractures with flail segments, a pneumothorax, haemothorax and lacerated liver.

Due to the time of day of the incident, a paramedic and doctor from the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) responded to the scene via a rapid response vehicle, rather than a helicopter, as they mainly fly in hours of daylight.

The charity initially launched their night-time service in Cumbria in May 2021 covering Friday and Saturday nights, from 8pm to 8am, but last year they expanded to cover Thursday and Sunday nights, which meant they were operating when Mr Young required their help.

While en route to the incident, a team from the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) were the first to arrive at the scene, and they assessed Mr Young’s injuries and took him into their ambulance.

The NWAS team were shortly joined by the doctor and paramedic from GNAAS who helped treat him before he was transported to hospital.

He said: “The doctor from GNAAS worked on me in the ambulance, carrying out a chest drain and gave me blood.

“I was then taken to Royal Preston Hospital and spent 17 days there.”

Mr Young underwent soft tissue stabilisation and an operation on his leg to fit a titanium nail and fixing screws, as well as conservative treatment for his shoulder and ribs.

He said: “I have returned to Preston to have a cage implant and bone graft to restore the missing section of femur around the titanium nail. I have now moved onto crutches and am partially weight bearing. I can bend my knee to 90° and whilst slow, my shoulder is continuing to improve.”

Although Mr Young still has a long road to recovery, he is grateful for the teams who helped him on that fateful day and has shown his support for GNAAS’ annual appeal, which is asking the public to help raise the funds required to enable their team to operate 24/7 across the region.

GNAAS, which currently needs to raise approximately £8.5m a year, has been working hard to cover every night of the week so that no matter when someone is need, the team are able to respond.

Last year, their critical care teams based in the North East and Cumbria, responded to an additional 745 night-time incidents on their rapid response vehicles and provided essential medical expertise and care that would have otherwise been unavailable.

Mr Young added: “Their role in treating me at the scene of the accident was critical in readying me for transport to hospital, without the intervention of the GNAAS doctor the outcome may have been very different.

“Donating to this charity helps keeps these life-savers in the air and on the road.”

To find out more about how you can support the charity visit: gna.as/fund247

About GNAAS

• The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) is a charitably funded air ambulance service which provides life-saving care throughout the North East, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Isle of Man.
  
• They operate two helicopters 365 days a year and also operate a night-time service in the North East and Cumbria on rapid response vehicles.
  
  
• The aircraft cover an area of more than 8,000 square miles and on board are specialist doctors and paramedics who effectively bring the hospital to the patient.
  
  
• The level of skill and expertise of the on-board team mean they respond to the most critically ill and injured people, giving them the best chance of survival.
  
  
• GNAAS is a progressive organisation which has pioneered pre-hospital care in the region.
  
• The latest techniques, equipment and drugs are constantly being evaluated to ensure the charity can provide the best care possible for their patients.
  
  
• 2022 marked the service providing 20 years of life-saving care. Throughout this time, they have responded to more than 23,500 incidents across the region, with road traffic collisions being the most frequent type of incident responded to by the team.
  
  
• They do not receive Government funding and must therefore raise £8.5m a year through public donations to remain operational.

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