About Great Western Air Ambulance Charity

Our Critical Care Team stand ready to save the lives of local people... 

We provide emergency care to people who are in a state so critical that they require the specialist skills of our team at the scene of the accident or medical incident. Though we are part of the regional 999 response service and work closely with NHS hospitals, we are a charity entirely funded by local people just like you.

GWAAC saves lives across Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, North Somerset and parts of Wiltshire.

Without you, we couldn't do it. It’s your support that allow us to keep the air ambulance going, so our team can keep saving lives.

..Lives like Sallyanne's

How we work

We don’t simply fly people to the nearest hospital. Our priority is to get to the patient fast. We treat people at the scene, on the road and in the air, providing complex interventions to stabilise and treat the patient and give them the best chance of a positive outcome. The service we provide is reliant on our brilliant team of pilots, Advanced and Specialist Paramedics and Consultant Doctors who specialise in pre-hospital care.

Within five minutes of a call to the GWAAC base, our team can take off or hit the road and be on their way.

“It is some of the most challenging medicine that I’ve ever practiced.''

''As a Critical Care Doctor at Great Western Air Ambulance Charity I know that our response to any call that comes through could mean the difference between life and death. But on a very rare occasion there will be a patient so seriously injured that my actions over the course of a minute could make that difference.''

GWAAC's Critical Care Doctor Tim gives us an insight as to what it's like to work as a doctor in the pre-hospital environment.

We can only operate with your help

Many of our highly skilled team are volunteers who give up their precious time to help save people in their local community.

But without you, none of this could happen.

It’s your donations, including gifts in wills, that allow us to fund our clinical team and keep the ambulance in the air, so our team can keep saving lives. We receive no day to day government funding and rely on your support.

 

Meet the Crew

The Great Western Air Ambulance Charity team work 365 days of the year to attend emergencies across Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and parts of Wiltshire. We are one of the busiest air ambulance services in the UK, being called to over 5 incidents every single day on average. Meet our Critical Care Doctors, Advanced and Specialist Paramedics in Critical Care and Pilots below. 

Volunteer to work with us

We always looking to welcome new volunteers to our team. It’s the local people who kindly give up some of their precious time who mean we are able to keep saving local lives. Everyone who works here at GWAAC is committed, enthusiastic and dedicated to keeping us flying.

We enjoy what we do because it really makes a difference – and we would love to have you as part of our team. Whether you would like to help out in our offices, would like to volunteer at a fundraising event, or put on an event of your own, we would love to hear from you. Can you help us save lives?

Career Opportunities

We have a number of exciting opportunities to join our successful charity. We’re dedicated to raising the funds necessary to keep an air ambulance flying over the counties of Bristol, North Somerset, Bath & North East Somerset and all of Gloucestershire. From fundraisers to highly skilled paramedics and senior consultants, we are a team, working to save lives that would otherwise be lost. The job is high pressure, but it is deeply satisfying, and every member of the team is committed to this service, and to saving as many lives as we can.

Download our Impact Report (1.46mb)

 

Behind the scenes

You can read more about our work in our annual Impact Report. Also meet our Charity Team and learn about our governance.

Our Values

At GWAAC we work together as a team, with our decisions, actions and expectations being guided by our values:

    • We put people first
    • We behave in an ethical manner
    • We strive to decrease our environmental impact
    • We reflect on our performance and learn from others
    • We are inclusive and welcoming
    • We are grateful for the support we receive