Great North Air Ambulance Service expands Cumbria cover

A doctor and paramedic will now be available throughout Friday and Saturday nights

An air ambulance is expanding to cover Cumbria around the clock on the two busiest nights of the week.

The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) operates 12 hours a day across the region, but its doctor and paramedic will now also be available overnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

The charity said that the extra cover would make a "real difference" to the outcome of incidents at night time.

An expected influx of visitors meant it was right to bring it in, it said.

With fewer people able to travel abroad, it was likely that there would be an increased amount of domestic tourists.

The charity said that although the increase in cover was not a direct response to this, it was "good timing to help deal with what could be a busy summer for the Cumbrian emergency services".

Paramedic Andy Dalton said: "Because of the population in Cumbria, the cases of pre-hospital emergencies are relatively low but there are always incidents on a night nonetheless.

"We know that there have been accidents through the night in the past that we would have been able to make a difference to if we had the resources at the time.

"This summer numbers will be at a record too because of coronavirus and we expect the demands on the charity will increase."