Wiltshire Air Ambulance carried out its lifesaving work in the Swindon area a total of 113 times in the first half of 2022.
The charity undertook 93 missions and transported 20 patients to the town’s Great Western Hospital between January and June.
It means the service was operational in Swindon and surrounding areas such as Royal Wootton Bassett, Cricklade and Highworth, on average, at least four times a week for the first six months of the year.
Swindon was the charity’s most visited area, with 18% of all incidents taking place in the town, followed by Trowbridge (40 missions) and Bath (38 missions).
The total incidents for the first half of 2022 totalled 515. Of those calls, 353 were responded to in the charity’s helicopter, with the other 162 in the Rapid Response Vehicles (cars).
The vast majority of call outs were to people suffering cardiac emergencies, 169, followed by those suffering other medical conditions such as strokes, collapses and respiratory problems, totalling 85.
There were 75 road traffic collision incidents and 71 falls.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance airlifted patients or assisted them to hospital by land on 148 occasions. There were 63 incidents across 2022 to date involving children.
Breakdown of incidents by month
January – 87
February – 78
March – 83
April – 85
May – 94
June – 88
Breakdown of incidents by category
Cardiac – 33%
Other medical conditions, including collapses and strokes – 16.5%
Road traffic collisions –14.5%
Falls – 13%
Sports (including horse riding) – 6%
In 2021 the charity was called to 1,104 incidents, with around one in three involving cardiac emergencies.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance costs around £4 million a year to run, or £11,000 oer day and receives no regular direct from the Government or National Lottery grants relying on public fuindraising to keep it in the air.
