Great North Air Ambulance Service

The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) recently held a successful launch event introducing the life-saving work of their charity to the Isle of Man community.

In 2022 GNAAS entered an agreement with Manx Care to develop a service to transfer seriously injured or unwell patients by helicopter from the Isle of Man directly to the UK for emergency medical treatment.

Working closely with paramedics from the Isle of Man Ambulance Service, GNAAS’ critical care team, which consists of a doctor and paramedic, can provide patients with advanced levels of pre-hospital care, including anaesthesia, blood transfusions and surgery.

Last year GNAAS was activated 24 times to the Island and their team delivered specialist treatment on scene to several patients and airlifted 13 of them to a trauma or other specialist centre in the North West of England.

The charity recently held a launch event at the Santander Work Café in the Isle of Man to introduce themselves to the community and share their mission in enhancing emergency medical services on the Island.

GNAAS’ chief executive David Stockton, and head of operations (West), Lee Salmon, provided additional insights and answered questions from the audience.

They were also joined by GNAAS charity ambassador Kerry Irving, who organised a short dog walk at South Barrule earlier that day.

Mr Stockton said: “It was an excellent event, in an excellent facility, and we were thankful to the many people who came out to meet us and listen to our stories.

“We had some very encouraging conversations during and after the event, and so many people who like the work that we do and want to try and help us and enable us to continue providing our service.

“It was also helpful to explain how we complement and enhance the medical services and provisions already available on the island.

“We’re very much in the transformational phase at the moment but it’s a really exciting phase, and we’re looking forward to seeing what this year could bring.”

GNAAS needs to raise £8.5m a year to remain operational. 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