The East Lancashire Mark Benevolent Fund (ELMBF) is proud to continue supporting The North West Air Ambulance Charity. This has been a charity that has been supported since 2024 and the impact that support has had alongside the fantastic work the charity is able to do is quite remarkable.

Thanks to the support from the ELMBF the NWAA has been able to continue delivering lifesaving care to people across the entire Nort West Region, ensuring those in critical need receive the pre-hospital interventions they require.

Over the past year, The NWAA has continued to grow both in activity and ambition. They’ve also been focused on strengthening their operations and advancing the quality of care they provide. The support provided by The ELMBF has played an important role in helping them maintain momentum and plan confidently for the future.

Every time a patient receives lifesaving treatment from their crew, it is only made possible by the generosity of funders like The ELMBF, and we’re proud to be a part of their journey.

A YEAR IN NUMBERS

Hospital admission by Patient

Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital: 11 patients

Salford Royal Hospital: 26 patients

Aintree University Hospital: 10 patients

Crew have been able to arrive on scene because of the funding by The ELMBF enabling the purchase of a Critical Care Car. Once the crew have stabilized the patient enough to be transferred, NWAA crew travel to each hospital in the NHS ambulance in order to continue to care for the patient until admission into hospital.

Patients by Injuries/Illnesses

Medical Incidents: 42 patients

Road Traffic Collisions: 25 patients

Accidental Injury: 17 patients

Medical incidents are the most common type of incident the NWAA crew attend to and include cardiac arrests, allergic reactions and strokes. Other incidents their crew attend include Assault and Exposure.

Dispatching All-year Round

December 2025: 15 patients attended

NWAA crews attend incidents using their entire fleet of vehicles, including cars and helicopters. Whilst the helicopters give the advantage of arriving on scene, the critical care car The ELMBF funded is vital when their crew need to get to patients when the weather grounds our helicopters, or in the winter months where darkness prevents the helicopter from flying.

A Year in Overview

Patients attended to in The ELMBF funded car: 107 patients attended

Between January 2025 and December 2025, NWAA crews utilised the car funded by The ELMBF to attend to patients across the North West, from Colne to Chester, Carlisle to Crewe.

Time of Attendance

Between 08:00 – 12:00: 30 patients

Between 12:01 – 20:00: 77 patients

The NWAA respond to incidents throughout the day in the critical care car, with higher activity in the afternoon than the morning. This is likely because the vehicle operates in all conditions and becomes the crew’s primary transport once daylight fades highlighting the importance of this car.

Enhanced interventions

RSIs performed on: 13 patients

Whilst The NWAA crews perform enhanced interventions every day, some of the most enhanced pre-hospital interventions are performed on a less frequent basis. Rapid Sequence Inductions (RSIs), are a procedure in

which their crew will put a patient into a medically induced coma and take control of their breathing, this intervention is used to help protect the patient’s brain and airways during severe incidents.

Location of Incidents

Greater Manchester: 88 patients

Cheshire: 10 patients

Merseyside: 6 patients

Lancashire: 3 patients

The car purchased with the funding received from The ELMBF is based at their airbase in Barton, Greater Manchester. As the airbase is based within minutes of M61, M602, M60 and M62, their crew are able to travel across the North West with speed and skill.

Outcome of Incident

Stand down: 114 patients

Patients treated at scene: 50 patients

Patients conveyed to hospital: 57 patients

Because time is critical in major trauma, The NWAA crews are dispatched immediately and begin travelling upon receiving initial information. As further details emerge, some incidents are less severe and crews may be stood down. Others require on-scene treatment or hospital transfer with NWAA accompanying for ongoing care.

The figures speak for themselves. Every pound donated helps keep this life-saving service functional, delivering critical care when every second counts. The East Lancashire Mark Benevolent Fund is immensely proud to support The North West Air Ambulance Charity and remains committed to backing organisations that make a real and lasting difference to communities across the region. To learn more about the extraordinary, lifesaving work carried out every single day by the charity, visit www.nwairambulance.org.uk