Major trauma patients across the north will benefit from yet another life-saving medical approach, as the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) today begins to carry defrosted Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP) on board its aircraft.

The charity already carries red blood cells on board, allowing medics to give blood transfusions.

GNAAS teamed up with Newcastle Hospitals and the blood bikes charities in Northumbria and Cumbria and the Henry Surtees Foundation to make that project possible.

Now the team has taken it one step further by carrying plasma, which provides vital clotting components to help blood clots to form and to stop bleeding.

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GNAAS is one of the very first air ambulance charities in the UK to carry plasma onboard, which when given together with the blood, is thought will offer patients an even better chance of survival. 

Dr Rachel Hawes, consultant in anaesthesia and pre-hospital emergency medicine said: “Blood on board has allowed us to greatly improve outcomes for our trauma patients. Yet scientific studies suggest that up to 30% of trauma patients with severe bleeding are no longer able to form blood clots normally by the time they arrive in the Emergency Department (ED), and in fact our own research confirms this to be the case in our region.

"This means that when the patients arrive in ED, they are in a condition known as coagulopathy – they haven’t been able to produce enough of their own blood clots to keep up with the bleeding and so the bleeding spirals out of control.

“By giving a more balanced transfusion, using equal volumes of red blood cells and plasma, we hope to prevent this happening to our critically ill patients, ultimately helping to save their lives.

“We are delighted to be in a position to provide the most up to date, clinical techniques.”

A three month trial begins today (May 24).