Hampshire and IOW Air Ambulance passes 18,000 missions
The charity also say last year was their busiest since the pandemic
Last updated 31st Jan 2024
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance is celebrating a significant milestone.
The doctors, dispatchers, pilots and paramedics that make up the charity’s Critical Care Teams have responded to 18,000 missions via its helicopter and emergency response vehicles since its first flight in 2007.
In 2023, the service responded to 1,842 missions (up 28 on the year prior) – its busiest year since before the Coronavirus pandemic (2019).
December had the most call-outs for the charity (187) for the second year running, in a year in which the majority of incidents involved cardiac arrest, road traffic collisions and medical emergencies, such as seizures.
Other cases included falls from height, assaults and sporting incidents.
The charity’s CEO, Richard Corbett, said:
“The patients we have treated in the last year and, indeed, the years before it, have potentially had their lives turned upside down as a result of their illness or injury. It is only thanks to our incredible supporters who help us raise millions of pounds each year that we are able to play a part in the treatment and recovery of those who need us most.”
Patients from across the region were taken to hospitals including University Hospital Southampton, Portsmouth’s Queen Alexandra Hospital, Isle of Wight’s St. Mary’s Hospital and Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital – they even ventured as far as Morriston Hospital in Wales.