Record number of Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance Charity missions in 2024

New statistics have revealed that Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance Charity undertook a record number of missions during 2024.

Overall missions hit an all-time high of 1,343, representing a 15% increase on the previous year and surpassing the high of 1,238 incidents attended in 2020.

The most visited areas were Swindon (243), Bath (117), Chippenham (109) and Trowbridge (90). Across the Salisbury and south area, including Tidworth and Amesbury, the Charity were called to 72 incidents.

A total of 341 patients were transferred to local hospitals (up from 292 in 2023), the majority of whom were transferred to Royal United Hospital, Bath (109), Southmead Hospital, Bristol (82), and Great Western Hospital, Swindon (72). Ten patients were transferred to Salisbury District Hospital.

Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance Charity’s dedicated aircrew, consisting of pilots, critical care paramedics, and doctors, is operational up to 19 hours a day, all year round. During 2024, they attended an average of four daily missions.

The Charity’s helicopter was deployed for 619 (46%) of the missions, with the remaining 724 incidents attended by critical care cars.

Cardiac emergencies accounted for the highest number of call-outs (326), representing around a quarter of all missions. Other incidents included 287 medical emergencies, 190 road traffic collisions, 72 sporting incidents, and 58 assaults.

182 incidents involved children, and 32% of all missions (438) took place at night.

Doctors were on board for more than half (51%) of all missions attended, an increase from 33% in the previous 12 months.

The aircrew delivered 68 pre-hospital emergency anaesthesias, 32 blood transfusions and 55 procedural sedations. In addition, the LUCAS CPR machine was used 80 times throughout the year, and 12 regional nerve blocks were administered.

Chief executive David Philpott said: “It’s sad to report that demand for our medical expertise rose significantly across Wiltshire and Bath during the past year.

“None of this vital work would be possible without the incredible generosity of the public and local businesses, and we are extremely grateful for their ongoing commitment and support.”

In late 2024, the Charity rebranded to include Bath in its name to better reflect its operational area.

Mr Philpott added: “For the first time, we attended over 100 missions in Bath in a single calendar year. This represents around nine per cent of all 2024 missions and once again demonstrates the importance of our work to the city.”

The aircrew were also tasked to incidents outside their primary operational area, including in counties such as the City of Bristol, Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Wales. In total, 23% of the incidents were outside of Wiltshire and Bath.

To find out more about Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance Charity, visit wiltshirebathairambulance.org.uk.