Andy Munns
Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s importance to the city of Salisbury has been shown in the latest statistics released by the lifesaving charity.
A total of 1,061 missions were undertaken by Wiltshire Air Ambulance in 2022.
The charity was called to 85 missions across the Salisbury and south Wiltshire area, including Amesbury, Tidworth and Tisbury. In addition, 17 patients were airlifted/escorted to the city’s District Hospital.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s director of income generation and communications, Barbara Gray, 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.
“We know it is a really difficult time for the country right now, with fuel and energy bills rising, along with inflation, contributing to this current cost of living crisis.
“However, we remain ever grateful to our amazing donors and local businesses who continue to support us and help raise the £4 million it costs each year to keep our air ambulance flying and saving lives.”
Of the 1,061 missions in 2022, the charity’s helicopter was used for 670 (63%) of them, with the remaining 391 incidents attended by critical care cars.
A total of 263 patients were transferred to local hospitals (up from 237 in 2021), the majority of which to the Royal United Hospital, Bath (84), Southmead Hospital, Bristol (63) and Great Western Hospital, Swindon (44).
The largest number of call outs were to cardiac emergencies – 351, which equates to a third of all missions and a rise from 306 in 2021. There were 174 road traffic collisions attended, plus 74 medical collapses, 51 sporting incidents and 44 assaults.
A total of 139 incidents involved children, while 31% of all missions (329) took place at night.
The largest number of incidents Wiltshire Air Ambulance responded to were in Swindon – 173, followed by the cities of Bath (83) and Salisbury (69).
Other areas where the team were called to attend include: Amesbury – 11; Bradford-on-Avon – 17; Calne – 20; Chippenham – 72; Corsham – 17; Cricklade – 4; Devizes – 49; Malmesbury – 16; Marlborough – 33; Melksham – 42; Pewsey – 10; Royal Wootton Bassett – 17; Tidworth – 3; Trowbridge – 76; Warminster – 36 and Westbury – 32.
The aircrew were also tasked to incidents outside of its operational patch, including in counties such as Berkshire, Bristol, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Somerset. In total, 22% of incidents were outside of Wiltshire and Bath (down from 23.5% in 2021).
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.
Breakdown of incidents by month
January – 87
February – 78
March – 83
April – 93
May – 94
June – 88
July – 96
August – 88
September – 95
October – 59
November – 104
December – 96
Breakdown of incidents by category
Cardiac – 33% (28% in 2021)
Other medical conditions, including collapses and strokes – 17% (21%)
Road traffic collisions – 16% (18%)
Falls – 11% (16%)
Sports (including horse riding) – 5% (5%)
Other trauma/misc incidents – 16% (11%)
