ACCIDENT victims can now be given blood at the roadside thanks to a collaboration between Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance and four other organisations.

It means the air ambulance is one of only ten across the UK that can now carry blood for transfusions to be carried out before the patient arrives at hospital – a life-saving initiative because 40 per cent of trauma deaths are due to bleeding.

The project involving Dorset County Hospital, Devon Freewheelers, the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASfT) and the Henry Surtees Foundation was officially launched at the air ambulance base on June 9.

Bill Sivewright, Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance chief executive officer, said: “To the lay person, the decision to carry blood in the air ambulance seems very straightforward.

“However, in reality, it takes an enormous amount of careful consideration and detailed planning by a number of organisations to make it happen.”

Pictured are intensive care consultant Dr Ian Mew and a critical care paramedic in a blood transfusion simulation exercise.