Great North Air Ambulance Service launches new fundraising drive

The charity has launched several fundraisers on Facebook which could help fund essential pieces of equipment which are used in and around their cars to make their life-saving night shifts possible.

GNAAS provides an air ambulance service mainly in hours of daylight, while on a night-time, a highly skilled paramedic and doctor operate on a rapid response vehicle in the North East and Cumbria most nights.

Last year, GNAAS’ critical care teams responded to 745 incidents during the night-time on their rapid response vehicles.

The charity, which currently needs to raise approximately £8.5m a year, launched an appeal in February to help raise enough funds to enable their critical care team to cover every night of the week, so that no matter when someone is need, the team is able to respond.

David Stockton, chief executive at GNAAS, said: “Unfortunately, these essential expansions mean that we need to raise even more funds than before to keep our life-saving service running. The frightening truth is that for 2024 we are predicting to run at a deficit. This means we will have to go into our limited reserves just to keep the charity flying this year.”

In order to continue responding during the night, the charity must have reliable cars, impeccable training, the best equipment, and ultimately, money. It will cost the charity nearly £500,000 annually.

To support the fundraisers and find out more about each piece of kit, visit the charity’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GNairambulance