The Great Western Air Ambulance Charity has been given a £1 million pound grant from the LIBOR funds to secure the future of their life-saving service.
The money will make a huge difference to the charity and is the additional costs to run the new EC135 helicopter for a year.
In the 2014 budget, the chancellor announced the Libor fund would be opened to the emergency services.
GWAAC submitted an application, and have been lobbying ever since with the help of local MPs with Jack Lopresti MP leading the campaign.
Jack Lopresti, MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke, and Chris Skidmore, MP for Kingswood, recently met with the chancellor to discuss the application and Charlotte Leslie MP for Bristol North West also made representations on the charity’s behalf.
It was announced yesterday that after months of lobbying their bid has been successful.
Even though the charity have been awarded this grant it is imperative that they continue their fundraising efforts.
John Christensen said: “I am over the moon. For the first time since I started GWAAC our future is looking financially secure.
“This is all down to the effort of Jack Lopresti MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke plus Chris Skimore, Charlotte Leslie, Dr Liam Fox, John Penrose, Stephen Williams, Neil Carmichael and Rt Hon Dawn Primarolo.
“None of this could have been possible without the fantastic team behind GWAAC.”
Jack Lopresti MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke said: “This is really fantastic news. The Great Western Air Ambulance does an amazing job saving lives, getting casualties to hospital quickly as well as being able to offer first class medical treatment at the scene.
“This money as well as helping with the cost of their new helicopter will put the GWAA on a long-term sustainable financial footing which will enable them to continue their fabulous work for many years to come.”
The Chancellor further announced VAT refunds to all air ambulance charities worth £25 million over five years.
GWAAC is the youngest helicopter rescue charity in England and Wales, covering Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and parts of Wiltshire.
The Eurocopter 135 replaced their ageing Bolkow, enabling them to transform the care they are able to offer to patients.
Upgrading to the EC135 will mean that the advanced Critical Care service that operates in the region will be carried out in a helicopter that is compatible with the high standard of medical care and interventions that the team provide.
The EC135 includes an extra seat, meaning that if a child is airlifted they are able to take a parent with them. This extra seat will also allow the charity to train their new paramedics and doctors.
With the old Bolkow, they couldn’t land on the BRI or the Gloucester Royal helipads, but with the new helicopter they can, allowing them greater hospital access across the region.
The EC 135 is also side loading, which reduces the amount of time it takes to load patients. With the Bolkow patients were loaded through the back, a process that took up to 20 minutes.
GWAAC is one of the few air ambulances who work to the gold standard Critical Care Model, which means rushing a critical care paramedic and critical care doctor to the scene.
Essentially they are a flying Accident and Emergency Department, bringing the hospital to the patients. The team fly seven days a week, 365 days a year and attend more than 100 incidents per month.
Within five minutes of a 999 call to their base the aircraft is in the air, and no more than 20 minutes later the team are anywhere within the region.
This means that one patient in five – a patient otherwise expected to die – survives.
The charity receive no funding from the Government or the National Lottery, which means they rely entirely on the generosity of the people they serve to continue operating.
