North East Immediate Care, a specialist pre-hospital emergency team of medical and paramedic volunteers, who, in their spare time, respond to serious medical and trauma cases across the North East of England, have received a donation of £24,397.00.
The donation will be used to purchase two mechanical chest compression devices and two portable ultrasound machines which will be used to aid the team’s mission to deliver high quality pre hospital care.
It was made possible after the scheme successfully bid for the donation from a grant of £250,000, which is given to the British Association for Immediate Care every year by the County Air Ambulance HELP Appeal – the only charity in the country dedicated to funding NHS hospital helipads.
North East Immediate Care is one of a national network of over 30 regional schemes across the UK, which operate under the umbrella of the British Association for Immediate Care. North East Immediate Care volunteers give up their free time to be on call to help North East Ambulance Service, helping to ensure they get support for critical incidents. Since its inception the team have responded to over 180 calls. Over half of these cases were for patients suffering an out of hospital cardiac arrest. Adding these new items of equipment will enhance the care which the team can provide to these cases.
Professor Michael Norton, trustee and volunteer responder, said:
“This donation is a real lifeline for us, as a relatively new volunteer scheme, which formally became a charity in October 2022, after a successful trial period. Every donation directly contributes to the patient care we are able to deliver. We are hoping to further expand the scheme during 2023.”
