Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance see increase in self-harm and assault cases

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance are seeing an increase in self harm and assault cases this year.

Deployed on 2,000 emergency missions this year, including cardiac arrests and collisions, the charity say they respond to an average of seven critically ill and injured patients every day.

Richard Corbett, Chief Executive of Hampshire and Isle of Wight's Air Ambulance, is speaking to us.

He said: "We sometimes talk about large numbers and forget that those are each individual people.

"So for each of those people, there's a family that have been connected to that person, and hopefully, in many cases, we've been able to provide the support, which means they return back to the way they were prior to whatever incident took place.

"It is large numbers of people, but ultimately, it's all individuals and families that we're able to support."

July 2025 was the busiest month on record for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, with 274 dispatches logged. 

The charity reveals this year, there has been a rise in response to assaults and self-harm incidents across the region.

Cardiac arrests, road traffic collisions and severe medical emergencies are the most frequent mission type the crews see on a day-to-day basis.

Mr Corbett told us about the increase in emergency cases that they're seeing over time.

He said: "Since 2007, when we started flying, we've responded to 22,000 incidents.

"There has been an increase over time and that's been both because of the way we do dispatching, so we're responding to more of the right instances, and also, we're looking to put out more teams.

"This year, we've had both the aircraft with our critical care team, which is a doctor and paramedic team; but we've also had a car that's been deployed with a very highly trained paramedic who can support the ambulance crews on more events.

"By building capacity and better dispatch, we've been able to respond to more and more people over time."

Southampton, Portsmouth, Eastleigh, Andover, Basingstoke, Fareham, Havant, the Isle of Wight and Winchester were the most frequently called to areas.

If you need support, you can contact Samaritans through their website or by calling 116 123.

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