LAAC treated 161 patients in June 2022

The most common injury type was penetrating trauma – a term used when foreign objects pierce the skin and enters the body, such as through stabbing, accidental impalement or similar incidents – affecting 48 patients that month (30 per cent).

Falls from height accounted for 46 patients (28 per cent), while road traffic accidents were behind a quarter of patient injuries (24 per cent). Nine patients were afflicted with ‘medical injury’ (six per cent), while the remaining 19 patients (12 per cent) were the result of other mechanisms of injury.

The figures reflect the broader annual picture – in 2021, LAAC responded to 595 penetrating trauma incidents – which constituted 35 per cent of all missions that year.

The boroughs of Southwark and Croydon were responsible for the highest number of call-outs, while the hospital which received the most patients from LAAC was the Royal London Hospital – which took 50 patients (40 per cent of the month’s total).

Other hospitals which received patients include St Mary’s Hospital, which received 27 patients (22 per cent), Kings College Hospital received 25 (20 per cent), and St George’s Hospital took in 14 patients (11 per cent).

LAAC crew members carried out a variety of medical procedures, including 31 ultrasounds, 29 rapid sequence intubations, nine blood transfusions and two thoracotomies. LAAC teams also performed three Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA) procedures.