Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s importance to the city of Salisbury has been shown in the latest statistics released by the lifesaving charity.
From the 1,167 missions in 2023, the helicopter was used for 646 incidents with the remaining missions attended by critical care cars.
Across Salisbury and South Wiltshire including Amesbury, Tidworth and Tisbury, 91 missions were carried out which is an increase from 85 on 2022. 19 patients were airlifted/escorted to the city's district hospital. This was an increase of 17.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s safety and ground operations manager Richard Miller said: “We have a very dedicated aircrew – consisting of pilots, critical care paramedics and doctors – who respond to emergencies, on average, three times a day, 365 days a year.
“These latest statistics show the need for our lifesaving service has sadly increased in the past 12 months and we could not do it without the amazing donors and local businesses who help raise the funds required to keep our air ambulance flying and saving lives.
“As it says on the side of the helicopter, we are funded by you, flying for you, and we are extremely grateful for all the support we receive from the people of Wiltshire and Bath.”
In total, 292 patients were transferred to hospitals which is an increase from 263 in 2022.
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The largest number of call outs were to cardiac emergencies – 274, which equates to around a quarter of all missions. There were 231 road traffic collisions attended, plus 237 medical emergencies, 60 sporting incidents and 47 assaults.
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A total of 157 incidents involved children, while 34% of all missions (397) took place at night.
The largest number of incidents Wiltshire Air Ambulance responded to were in Swindon – 181, followed by Bath (96) and Chippenham (85).
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Other areas where the team were called to attend include: Amesbury - 14; Bradford-on-Avon - 13; Calne - 25; Chippenham - 85; Corsham - 24; Cricklade - 3; Devizes - 65; Malmesbury - 18; Marlborough - 32; Melksham - 51; Pewsey - 11; Royal Wootton Bassett - 17; Tisbury - 1; Tidworth - 6; Trowbridge - 68; Warminster - 38 and Westbury - 28.
Breakdown of incidents by month
January – 79
February – 88
March – 84
April – 83
May – 113
June – 104
July – 105
August – 118
September – 104
October – 89
November – 86
December – 114
Breakdown of incidents by category
Cardiac – 23 per cent
Other medical conditions, including collapses and strokes – 20 per cent
Road traffic collisions – 20 per cent
Falls – 15 per cent
Sports (including horse riding) – five per cent
The aircrew was also tasked to incidents outside of its operational patch, including in counties such as Bristol, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Worcestershire.
In total, 24.6 per cent of the incidents were outside of Wiltshire and Bath.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance is a charity and receives no regular direct funding from the Government or National Lottery grants.
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