Bristol's new air ambulance has landed

Bristol's air ambulance is now using its new helicopter to attend emergencies in the former Avon area.

The aircraft was delivered to the Filton airport base of Great Western Air Ambulance (GWAA) yesterday and will now be attending emergencies across Bristol, Bath and beyond.

Because the new aircraft is cheaper than its more modern predecessor, the charity will be able to provide the service 10 hours a day, seven days a week from April 1, rather than five.

It also means the charity will only need to raise £1 million and not the initial fundraising target of £1.3m.

The charity, which relies on donations to operate the air ambulance, will be using the Bolkow 105DBS helicopter for the foreseeable future, as a replacement to the Eurocopter EC135 that was used to launch the service last June.

GWAA operations manager and critical care paramedic Danny Hopkins said: "The new aircraft is in our colours, so when people see a black and green helicopter in the air or in the street they will know that it is us.

"The new helicopter will allow us to provide our service seven days a week.

"Before it was a lottery and if someone had an accident on a Sunday or Monday they would not get the helicopter, but now there is more chance of us getting to people."

GWAA sends emergency doctors and paramedics with additional skills out to the most seriously ill patients so they can either treat them at the scene or prepare them for a trip to the most appropriate hospital for their needs, rather than the closest. The team brings A&E skills and equipment to the patient and provides the initial care that would usually be carried out once someone reached the hospital.

Mr Hopkins said that it is hoped the unit will be able to go back to a more modern aircraft at some point, if funding allows.

He said: "At the moment funding doesn't allow us to continue using the Eurocopter 135.

"We wanted to increase the service and could not do that with the funding we had but, if we bring in enough money, we would like to go back to the 135 as soon as we can."

GWAA chief executive Paul Weir told the Post in January that the decision had been taken because £1m was a more realistic fundraising target for the air ambulance in its first year.

He said the Bolkow is one of the most widely used air ambulances in Europe, and while it is not as quick as the Eurocopter for the sort of journeys required, which are a maximum of 15 to 20 minutes, it would not make a difference.