Charity carrying blood products 'saves 750 lives'

An air ambulance service says a decision to introduce blood products on board its helicopters and rapid response cars has saved nearly 750 people.

Since 2015, the Great North Air Ambulance Service's critical care team has been able to deliver blood transfusions at the scene of an accident to help improve the survival chances of the most severely injured people.

Rachel Hawes, a doctor on the air ambulance, came up with the idea after being deployed in Afghanistan and seeing blood products being used to save soldiers.

"Many patients would not have survived without the service, it's had a fantastic impact," she said.

Every day two sister charities – Blood Bikes Cumbria and Northumbria Blood Bikes – collect a cool box full of red blood cells and plasma from the RVI in Newcastle.

They are then transported to the two GNAAS bases in the North East and Cumbria and carried on board the helicopters and night-time rapid response vehicles.

Motorcyclist Rob Hope from Brampton, Cumbria, was given both blood and plasma on the roadside in Aspatria, when he was involved in a collision with a van in May 2018.

"I'm living proof I wouldn't be here if the charity didn't carry blood," he said.

"I would have died on the tarmac, even the surgeons in the hospital have said I should be dead."

"Carrying blood has transformed how the medics care for major trauma patients - in situations where every second counts," Ms Hawes said.

"It's fantastic to have an idea, see that get pushed through to clinical practice and then go on to make a positive difference for patients and families.

"It's just been such an amazing thing to be involved with."

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