North West Air Ambulance

The North West Air Ambulance is the helicopter emergency medical service that covers the counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside. It is a registered charity.

The charity has existed since 1999. It was established with a single aircraft based at Blackpool Airport and has since upgraded to three state of the art Eurocopter EC135 aircraft one based at Blackpool Airport the other two at City Airport Manchester.

The North West Air Ambulance consists of three Eurocopter EC135 aircraft operated by Bond Air Services which have top speeds of over 150 miles per hour and fly during daylight hours 365 days a year.

Although the two aircraft have their allocated counties, they will often cross into each other's areas should operational needs require it.

The Paramedics who provide the life saving treatment on board the Air Ambulance are provided on two year secondments by the North West Ambulance Service. The medics are extensively trained in areas such as helicopter safety, navigation and aviation law as well as advanced medical procedures beyond those performed by their land based colleagues.

The Pilots, along with the helicopters themselves are provided from an outside contractor: Bond Aviation Services. All North West Air Ambulance pilots are highly skilled ex-military pilots.

Control of the aircraft was, until recently, the responsibility of the Emergency Medical Dispatchers working in local North West Ambulance Service control rooms. However there is now a central "Air Desk" at Ambulance Control in Broughton, Preston which prioritises requests for the Air Ambulance in an attempt to increase efficiency

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