Wiltshire Air Ambulance called to more than a thousand missions during 'difficult year'
Another busy 12 months for the life saving charity
Last updated 10th Jan 2022
Wiltshire air Ambulance has revealed its life saving mission stats for 2021.
Donning PPE and continuing throughout lockdowns, Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s critical care paramedics and doctors were there for the people of Wiltshire and Bath when they were needed most attending 1,104 missions.
60 % (653) were by helicopter and 451 were in the Rapid Response Vehicles cars.
Locally the team were called to 81 incidents in the Salisbury area, 39 in the Warminster area, 12 in the Amesbury area along with 10 in the Pewsey area and a handful in Mere, Tidworth and Tisbury.
Chief executive David Philpott said:
“The year 2021 was another milestone year for the charity, as we launched a new three-year strategy, saw our fundraising target rise to £4 million and we increased the number of shifts with pre-hospital consultants (doctors), further enhancing our clinical delivery.
“It was, of course, another very challenging 12 months for our staff operating on the front line and I’m extremely proud of how everyone pulled together to ensure we continue to be there for the people of Wiltshire, Bath and surrounding areas.”
The largest number of call outs were to cardiac emergencies – 306 – around a third of all missions. There were 194 road traffic collisions attended, plus 211 medical incidents like collapses and strokes, 71 sporting incidents and 47 assaults.
A total of 73 incidents involved children, while around one in three missions – 307 – took place at night.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance was also tasked to incidents in neighbouring counties, including Berkshire, Bristol, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Somerset, plus Wales.
On 237 occasions the charity either airlifted or land assisted patients to hospital, including 78 to the Royal United Hospital in Bath and 53 to Great Western Hospital in Swindon.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance is a charity and receives no regular direct funding from the Government or National Lottery grants. Each year the charity needs to raise £4 million to continue flying and saving lives.