Devon Air Ambulance responds to over 1,500 missions in 2020
July was their busiest month and Sunday was their busiest day of the week
Devon's Air Ambulance remained a vital service during 2020.
They responded to over 1,500 missions: 590 were for medical emergencies, and 912 were for trauma-related incidents.
Crews assisted 607 male and 261 female patients, plus 68 children who also needed their expert care.
DAA say last year was both 'busy and challenging', and even this month they are seeing a similar number of patients they would normally respond to in the summer.
July was their busiest month of the year and Sunday their busiest day of the week. This is thought to be due to many people taking time out for their favourite hobbies and pastimes at the weekend, as well as those carrying out home improvement plans that don't always go as smoothly as intended.
"Following the initial reduction in call outs to patients during the first lock down, 2020 has been both busy and challenging for our service. The school Summer holiday period is always busy for Devon Air Ambulance, but in 2020 the demand for our service remained very high from April right through to October.
"Although November brought a brief return to normal levels, the number of patients we have deployed to in December, and so far during January, has been similar to the number of patients we normally respond to in the summer."
Nigel Hare - Patient Services Operations Director
The DAA medical team conveyed 184 patients by air in 2020, but also accompanied 271 patients on their journey to hospital in a land ambulance so they could continue to observe, monitor and treat them with the enhanced care they needed until their arrival at hospital.
A list of further interesting mission statistics for 2020 can be found here.