This Charity brings pioneering pre-hospital care to the scene, rescuing hundreds of severely injured or ill patients every year, and answered 2,148 callouts in 2023. It has a daily operating cost of £25,200 with an annual cost for the service of £9.3m.

Backing up the helicopters are Volvo XC90 rapid response cars which are activated when the helicopters are unable to fly due to extreme weather conditions or breakdown. They are also used for the Air Ambulance’s 24-hour service in the North-East.

Although the Rapid Response Vehicles are not capable of taking patients to hospital, their presence across the region is proven to make a life-saving difference to the people they help.

Approximately 40% of all callouts are answered with the vehicles and they allow the service to provide a response 24/7, 365 days a year. Even when the helicopters are not able to respond to an incident the vehicles assure that the same world class standard of care is delivered.

Once again we thank the Trustees of the Mark Benevolent Fund for their fantastically generous grant and feel sure that it will again be instrumental in helping to save lives.