The funding requirement for the North West Air Ambulance Charity is now £18 million annually and is in place to cover the financial year 2024/2025.
The increase is crucial to ensure the continued provision of our lifesaving services across the North West.
The new requirement for funding reflects our commitment to maximising the impact we have on our patients. It encompasses a combination of improvements that are already in motion and will allow us to continue providing enhanced interventions to critically ill and injured people throughout the region.
The improvements include:
- Plans to expand our blood-on-board service across all helicopters and cars, with the capacity increasing in the coming months
- Soon increasing the availability of our evening car service – from two to seven nights per week
- New helicopter updates, which allow us to fly more effectively, whilst carrying an extra 115kg of weight
- Bespoke medical fit interiors in our helicopters to improve access and functionality for both crew and patients
- A move towards becoming a research-active organisation, allowing us to explore the best ways to treat patients and improve their chances of survival
- Improving our in-house clinical expertise through additional training, benefiting all crew and ultimately, our patients
- An investment in advanced medical equipment, allowing us to offer pre-hospital care to those in the most critical of situations
- Additional staff for both our clinical operation and charitable fundraising
The new fundraising requirement also takes into consideration a new contract with our helicopter provider, alongside rising operational costs, which covers everything from fuel for the helicopters and cars to the leases on our retail charity stores across the five North West regions.
Please remember that we receive no funding from the Government or the NHS, so deeply appreciate the ongoing support from our donors, volunteers and partners. We’d like to thank everyone for their contribution to our charity over the last 25 years.