Wiltshire and Great Western air ambulances carry blood

The blood will enable patients to receive emergency transfusions before they reach hospital

Two air ambulance charities are to carry out emergency blood transfusions on board their helicopters.

Great Western Air Ambulance Charity [GWAAC] in Filton and Wiltshire Air Ambulance [WAA] in Devizes will use blood from Southmead Hospital.

John Wood from GWAAC said: "The blood will always be available to all our patients whenever we're operational."

GWAAC expects to give two to four transfusions a month. WAA expects one or two patients will need transfusions.

Blood from the North Bristol Trust Transfusion Laboratory at Southmead Hospital will be taken to the air ambulance bases by the charity Freewheelers EVS.

If the blood is not used within 24 hours, it will be taken back to Bristol and put back in the bank.

Mr Wood, the GWAAC operating officer, said: "It will be mainly use for trauma, so it will be road traffic collisions, falls from height, industrial accidents and those kinds of incidents.

"It will also be for medical patients who bleed spontaneously for a variety of reasons - we would also be able to transfuse blood for those patients too."

Other air ambulances across the country already offer the service. London's Air Ambulance began the scheme in 2012.