Wiltshire Air Ambulance callouts on the rise in Salisbury area
The charity says 2023 mission stats show their importance to South Wiltshire
Wiltshire Air Ambulance say their mission map for 2023 shows a rise in callouts to the Salisbury area - highlighting their importance to the south of the county.
The life-saving helicopter and critical care vehicles carried out a total of 1,167 mission during the year.
102 of those were in Salisbury and South Wiltshire, compared to 85 throughout 2022.
The figures include 14 incidents in Amesbury, six in Tidworth, 11 in Pewsey and 1 in Tisbury.
19 patients were taken to Salisbury District Hospital last year, up from 17 the year before.
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.”
Other stats from 2023 show that August was their busiest month, with 118 missions attended, followed by December with 114 and May with 113.
January was their quietest month, despite carrying out 79 callouts.
23% of the incidents the service attends are cardiac related, with a fifth being for other medical conditions like strokes.
They also went to road traffic collisions in 20% of cases, falls made up 15% of missions, and 5% were to sporting injuries, including horse riding.
The helicopter was used in 55% of missions (646 times) with the critical care cars going to 521 incidents (45%).
The charity needs to raise £4.5 million a year to keep the lifesaving service going - that works out as £12,000 every day.
They get no direct funding from Government or through National Lottery grants, and so relies on public and corporate donations.