Most of us know the feeling: a dark, frosty morning, an iced-over windscreen, and somewhere you need to be. For our crews, that somewhere could be the side of a person whose life depends on them getting there quickly. That’s why we make sure our critical care cars are ready for winter - so there’s no delay in reaching someone who needs advanced treatment and care.
We have two critical care cars at each base, and they give our crews resilience and flexibility. Sometimes the weather is outside legal flying limits and the helicopter can’t fly. Other times, the emergency is somewhere it’s faster and safer to reach by road. In 2025, our crews were tasked by critical care car 1,165 times, bringing advanced skills, equipment and medication straight to the side of seriously injured and unwell people right across our region.
You might be getting your own car ready for the colder months: buying a new ice scraper from the local shop, topping up the screen wash, and restocking the de-icer. Our two petrol mild hybrid and two petrol Volvo XC90 critical care cars are mostly already set for winter, but we have some preparation to do too. This month, we’ll be keeping a close eye on the forecast to decide when to switch from summer to winter tyres. Summer tyres can harden below 7 degrees, reducing grip. Winter tyres have a softer rubber compound that stays flexible in the cold.
Each car’s winter pack includes a heated, de-misting windscreen at the front as well as the rear, plus heated wing mirrors. This means clinicians don’t lose precious time in colder weather waiting for the windscreens to clear before setting off to a critically injured or unwell patient.
The cars are usually driven by the critical care paramedic in our paramedic-doctor team, who is trained in blue-light driving. For night-time emergencies, there’s extra lighting inside the car too.
However our crew gets to the scene, the patient receives the same exceptional standard of treatment and care. Apart from a stretcher, the critical care cars carry the same advanced equipment as the helicopter, and they go through the same strict safety checks and restocking processes.
Every mile our critical care cars travel this winter is made possible by you. Thank you for keeping our wheels turning. Read more about our critical care cars.
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