EAAA celebrates three months of operating 24/7
The charity says it's responded over 300 times at night since going 24/7.
The East Anglian Air Ambulance says it's been tasked 307 times at night since going 24/7 three months ago.
The charity says it's crews have responded 87 times in the helicopter, and 220 times in rapid response vehicles, between 7am to 7pm since the 30th June.
As night's draw in again, crews are expecting to be called out to provide critical care to people in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire, even more often.
The charity has been providing 24/7 care from both its bases in Norwich and Cambridge for the last 18 months, but it only managed to start flying around the clock on 30th June 2021.
The change meant they became the first air ambulance in the East of England to provide 24/7 care by both road and air.
Due to the increased operation times, the charity says crews can now cover a much wider area in East Anglia at night, helping more patients that was previously possible.
So far crews have responded by air at night in Peterborough, across North Norfolk, into the depths of south Suffolk, and as far southwest as Harpenden in Hertfordshire.
Callouts have been to a mixture of emergencies including accidental injuries, cardiac arrests, RTC's, medical emergencies, self-harm incidents and assaults.
Matthew Jones, CEO of EAAA, said: “We’re just over three months into providing a fully 24/7 service for the region and we’re really pleased to see that our teams are already making a big difference to people all over East Anglia and beyond. We can see that we are being tasked over a much wider area at night than ever before, showing that we’re taking our enhanced critical care skills to those patients most in need of our help.
“Moving towards providing a 24/7 service has taken us the best part of four years and included raising an extra million pounds a year to fund this change, extending to 24/7 operations by rapid response vehicle first and expanding and renovating the charity’s HQ in Norwich, to adequately house a 24/7 service by air and by road. We are incredibly pleased to now be able to offer the same level of service, no matter what the time of day or night, to our patients and their families and this is only possible thanks to our incredible supporters.”