Our story

The generosity of our supporters enabled us to begin flying seven days a week.

We were able to upgrade our helicopter, thanks to a generous legacy of £500,000.

We opened the doors of our first charity shop in Southport, which is still going strong today.

We launched our Lift Off Lotto, which funds around 50% of all our missions.

Thanks to your donations, we introduced a second helicopter to our fleet, flying from Barton. Now operating out of two points in the region, Lancashire and Greater Manchester, we were able to save more lives.

We welcomed a third helicopter to our fleet also flying from Barton.

Our helicopters became yellow and blue and with that came an exciting new look for the entire fleet to help raise awareness of our lifesaving service, whether in the skies or on the ground.

We introduced consultant-level doctors to the crew meaning we were able to deliver care previously only available in a hospital. As well as the doctors we introduced new kit to help deliver this care.

We also received funding to purchase a LUCAS Chest Compression system, which provides automated CPR on patients suffering cardiac arrest.

Aintree University Hospital’s helipad was officially opened by HRH The Duke of Cambridge, and our crew had the honour of meeting His Royal Highness at the grand unveiling.

The first of four critical care vehicles was purchased, made possible thanks to our amazing supporters. This enabled our crews to attend incidents when the helicopter was offline due to weather or in built-up areas where it was difficult to land, such as City Centres.

In April, collaborating with Wythenshawe Hospital, we streamlined vital cardiac arrest treatments for the first time, with the first patient transported using ECMO. In November, we won ‘Innovation of the Year’ at the National Air Ambulance Awards of Excellence, for our ECMO cardiac arrest treatment.

In January, we launched blood on board in partnership with Blood Bikes Manchester, Salford Royal Hospital NHS Foundation transfusion service, and the North West Ambulance Service – giving us the ability to administer lifesaving blood transfusions by the at the scene.

In April, the BBC’s BAFTA winning ‘Ambulance’ returned with a fifth series, featuring the North West Air Ambulance Charity crew for the first time.

In August, Our Lift off Lotto reached over 100,000 plays per week.

In April, we joined forces with the North West Ambulance Service and launched an inter-hospital transfer service in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Using a land ambulance, kitted with specialist equipment, the service saw the transportation of Covid-19 patients from one hospital to another, to help prevent any one hospital becoming overwhelmed – resulting in other frontline ambulances being able to remain available for responding to patients, including those dialling 999.

In May, we celebrated 21 years of our lifesaving service.

In June, the BBC’s BAFTA winning ‘Ambulance’ returned with a brand new series, featuring the North West Air Ambulance Charity crew saving lives alongside North West Ambulance Service’s Merseyside crew.

We up-skilled our paramedics to become Critical Care Paramedics, the first of their kind in the North West.

We also reached the milestone of 100 blood transfusions and began to introduce Patient Aftercare Coordinators in all the Major Trauma Centres in the region.

After a 6-month trial we launched our Night Car. Carrying the same kit as the helicopter, it’s manned by a critical care paramedic and doctor and is available on a Friday and Saturday 6pm – 2am.

We registered over 500 volunteers, and we were awarded the prestigious Investors in Volunteers Accreditation, which shows we value and appreciate our volunteer community without whom we simply could not operate.

Last year we also delivered our 300th blood transfusion and responded to over 3,100 calls, the most we’ve ever responded to.

We are celebrating 25 years of saving lives across the North West.