Air ambulance makes appeal for public support

An emergency medical charity is appealing for public support to maintain operations.

The Great North Air Ambulance Service has called for fresh backing after a “challenging past few years”.

Bosses say the organisation needs around £25,000 a day to continue responding to incidents across the North East, North Yorkshire, Cumbria, Scotland and Isle of Man.

The rallying cry comes after the charity – based at Eaglescliffe, near Stockton, and Langwathby, near Penrith in Cumbria, dealt with more than 2000 call-outs in 2024, which included road traffic collisions, assaults and falls.

And with this year expected to be equally busy, interim chief executive Joe Garcia said public support remains vital.

He said: “The past few years have been challenging and, as time goes on, our aircraft are ageing and the cost of running this service is increasing – while charitable support is dropping. 

“In 2024, we were predicted to run at a deficit and go into our limited reserves just to keep us flying, and we don’t want history to repeat itself.

“When our critical care team attends an incident, trauma patients have at least a 37 per cent higher chance of surviving at 30 days compared to standard emergency care.

“This highlights why we need ongoing public support.

“For the service’s future to be brighter, more sustainable and remain operational, we need to be able to raise enough funds to keep our charity functioning at peak performance, which is currently £9.3 million a year or just over £25,200 for every day of the year.”

To find out how you can support the charity, visit gna.as/appeal2025

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