Objects and Aims

Clearly stated in the charity’s objects we are “to provide an air ambulance service for Cumbria, Northumberland, Durham and the surrounding areas”. However nothing is straight forward and as we, seeing ourselves primarily as a patient centred organisation rather than a helicopter ambulance provider means our first priority will always be the care of patients. Our order of importance therefore is the selection, training, skills and competencies of our medical crews and their effect on patient outcome followed closely by the number and appropriateness of helicopters. Simply put we are here to provide the best of care for our patients and the vision to which we aspire is to provide a world class pre-hospital care system here in our region.

Objects and Aims

Without exception the public who support this service would agree that their reason for doing so is to ensure that those unfortunate individuals who are either seriously ill or injured receive the best possible treatment in the shortest possible time and this is why our mission “to extend and constantly seek to improve emergency pre-hospital and inter-hospital critical care across our region” and our core value “to make the care and safety of patients our first concern” remains unchanged.

Helicopters alone do not save lives, however as a vehicle they do provide a high speed platform and one which can get to difficult locations where a road vehicle might struggle. We then add a consultant led trauma team that consists of doctors usually from an Anaesthetic or A&E background with pre-hospital care sub speciality and partner them with advanced trained paramedics. This uncommon crew combination provides a level of care not normally associated with road based schemes or a majority of other air ambulances. Once patients have been critically assessed and treated at scene they are then taken to the most appropriate hospital rather than the nearest thus avoiding a further inter-hospital transfer. By reducing unnecessary delays to definitive treatment the patient benefits from a seamless system of care that ultimately aids recovery. The combination of helicopter, trauma team and direct access to definitive care is what makes an air ambulance a real life saver.

Objects and Aims

Although many in our region see our service as essential you need to realise that we are not part of the statutory services but rather a service that operates in support of them. To clarify, no government department controls or provides funding therefore what we provide and indeed our very existence is entirely dependant on support from the general public, social groups, business organisations and our own income generating activities. This legally required independence from the statutory services ensures that what we do is entirely for our beneficiaries, in this case the patients, and free from government interference, policies and controls, although I hasten to add we do comply with legislation and regulations specific to our role and the safety of patients.