Air ambulance services for Berks & North Hants reveal 2022 workload
Thames Valley and Hampshire air ambulance had a busy time last year
The air ambulance services serving Berkshire and north Hampshire have revealed how busy they were last year.
Thames Valley
For the first time since becoming an independent healthcare charity, Thames Valley Air Ambulance has attended more than 3,000 callouts in a single year.
2022 was the busiest year on record for the charity as it recorded 3,158 missions across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire – a rise of almost 10% on the previous year (2,880).
Critical care paramedics and doctors were called to 1,161 incidents in Berkshire, 1,086 in Buckinghamshire, 818 in Oxfordshire and 93 in the surrounding area. Cardiac arrest remains the highest percentage of callouts for the year at 34% (1069), followed by medical emergencies at 21% (663), accidental injury at 16% (519) and road traffic collisions 14% (430). This reflects our findings in 2021 with cardiac arrests amounting to the most callouts followed by medical emergencies, accidental injury and road traffic collisions.
The busiest month of the year was December with crews called to attend 305 callouts, followed by 276 in November and 275 in June.
Thames Valley Air Ambulance Chief Operating Officer Adam Panter said:
“2022 was incredibly busy for our crews for a number of reasons including the impact of our communities returning to full and active lives. In addition to this, we are working hard to identify the cases which would benefit most from our crews’ expertise earlier and therefore dispatching our critical care teams to more of them.
“Answering 3,158 callouts is testament to their professionalism and the whole team at Thames Valley Air Ambulance supporting their lifesaving efforts. But this simply couldn’t happen without the community we serve; without their generous donations of funds and volunteering time, we wouldn’t be able to make the difference we do. Thank you.”
To see an interactive breakdown of Thames Valley Air Ambulance’s callout statistics, visit www.tvairambulance.org.uk/mission-map
Hampshire
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance responded to 1,814 missions throughout the last 12 months – making it the busiest year for the charity since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The doctors, paramedics, pilots and dispatch assistants that make up the charity’s critical care teams responded to 244 more incidents than in 2021.
December had the most call-outs for the charity (193) – the most in a single month since December 2019 – in a year in which 34% of incidents involved cardiac arrest, 17% road traffic collisions and a further 17% were classed as medical emergencies, such as seizures. Other cases included falls from height, assaults, self-harm, and sporting incidents. Of those 1,814 call-outs, 124 were to the Isle of Wight.
The charity’s aircraft was airborne for 547 hours throughout the year, and the three emergency response vehicles covered more than 54,000 miles.
Chief Executive Richard Corbett said:
“Each of those 1,814 calls for our help meant someone was in desperate need of our care. Whether they require advanced medication or sedation, a blood transfusion or even a surgical procedure, our specialist crews can do all of this before the patient reaches hospital. Thanks to the advancement of our service, we anticipate being even busier in 2023. It is not lost on me that, despite the ongoing financial uncertainty for so many in our region and beyond, our supporters keep rallying behind us and our patients. And I cannot thank them enough.”
2022 mission breakdown:
Total by air: 982
Total by road: 832
Busiest days: Mondays and Fridays
Busiest hours: 11am and 5pm
Incident breakdown:
Cardiac Arrests: 611 (34%)
Road Traffic Collisions: 317 (17%)
Medical incidents: 303 (17%)
Falls: 189 (10%)
Assaults: 76 (4%)
People can support the charity by visiting www.hiowaa.org