Suffolk Accident Rescue Service (SARS) is an emergency medical charity, operating across Suffolk and its border areas. Volunteer SARS clinicians provide immediate and advanced medical care to patients with serious or life-threatening conditions or trauma. SARS responders have enhanced prehospital skills and are authorised to carry specialist drugs and equipment not normally found on frontline ambulances – they can undertake procedures and provide a level of patient care that would not normally be available outside the hospital environment. Since SARS started in 1972 it has helped treat thousands of patients and saved countless lives.
The clinicians give up their time and provide their skills without charge. This ‘donation’ of time equates to many hundreds of thousands of pounds each year, and the benefit that SARS clinicians can bring to a patient in terms of life-saving interventions, relief from pain and quicker recovery times is immeasurable. In 2020, the amazing volunteer SARS clinicians gave over 6,000 hours of advanced prehospital medical care throughout Suffolk. They were called out to over 100 locations across the county and all of this during a pandemic.
SARS receives no central government funding and relies on voluntary fundraising to maintain its activity.
There are many ways you can get involved and help support SARS.
