A trial has started for a new service to transfer seriously injured patients by helicopter from the island directly to the UK for treatment.

The Great North Air Ambulance (GNAA) has entered into an agreement with Manx Care to provide for the direct transfer of patients to trauma or other specialist centres in north-west of England.

The GNAA is capable of providing advanced treatments at the scene of an incident as well as emergency treatment in flight.

For an initial period of seven months, the helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) will operate alongside the island’s existing fixed wing air ambulance service.

Before this agreement, patients who need immediate hospital care would be brought to Noble’s and if they require further treatment off-island, subsequently transferred by fixed wing air ambulance.

The HEMS is intended for patients who are likely to need immediate specialist care in Liverpool or require specialist skills at the scene, and incoming 999 calls will be screened to identify those most likely to benefit.

While the focus will be on trauma cases, Manx Care says that it hopes the new service will also take patients with certain types of heart attacks quickly to Liverpool.

Gareth Davies, Manx Care’s clinical director of the Medicine, Urgent Care and Ambulance Group said: ’The addition of a helicopter emergency medical service will be a great compliment to existing emergency services and the fixed wing air ambulance provision. ’Having access to a HEMS service based 25-30 minutes away in Cumbria means emergency services will be able to reach patients fast and intervene as quickly as possible after serious injury or illness, and fly patients direct to definitive specialised care, which will give patients the best chance of survival and longer term outcomes.’

Creating an enhanced 24/7 emergency air bridge was one of the recommendations of Sir Jonathan Michael’s 2019 review of the health service.

The GNAA team is in the island this week to meet Noble’s Hospital and Manx Care staff as well as members of the island’s emergency services and Civil Defence personnel.

A simulated HEMS intervention is being staged to test and demonstrate the capabilities of the service.