A TEAM at the Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC) is celebrating National Blood Week (June 19-25) by encouraging people to donate their blood.

The charity’s Critical Care Team, who provide care for people in South Gloucestershire, have been carrying blood on board their helicopter for almost two years.

This means they can give blood to patients before they even get to a hospital, and in 2016, they were able to provide over 50 transfusions at the scene of the accident.

Experts at GWAAC say that since they began carrying blood on board, the chances of a patient surviving a life-threatening incident has dramatically increased.

“I have no doubt in my mind that lives have been saved as a result of pre-hospital blood transfusions in this area,” said Critical Care Doctor Harvey Pynn.

“We will endeavour to prove this statistically in time and will develop our practices to optimise the use of this precious lifesaving asset.”

The NHS needs over 6,000 blood donations every day to treat patients in need across England.

Due to the high demand, health experts estimate that they need approximately 200,000 new donors each year.

In order to carry blood on board, GWAAC works closely with Freewheelers EVS, a blood bike charity in the South West of England.

Volunteer riders provide a free out-of-hours emergency motorcycle courier service to hospitals across the region.

Every day, the Freewheelers EVS collect two units of O negative blood from the North Bristol Trust Transfusion Laboratory at Southmead Hospital and deliver it to GWAAC’s airbase in Filton.

Find out more at www.greatwesternairambulance.com