UK air ambulances report 2022 figures

Devon Air Ambulance

Devon Air Ambulance responded to 1,828 missions in 2022 – an average of around five launches per day. Of these, 929 were for trauma-related incidents, including 294 road traffic collisions. A further 887 were for patients suffering general medical emergencies, including 360 cardiac arrests. Incidents relating to horse riding accounted for 43 missions.

Men made up the majority of patients (749), while the service also came to the rescue of 419 women. A total of 109 children also needed care.

July remained the charity’s busiest month, while a total of 292 missions were in the hours of darkness.

Wiltshire Air Ambulance

Wiltshire Air Ambulance attended 1,061 call-outs in 2022, with the charity’s helicopter used to respond to almost two-thirds (670) of all missions. The remainder were attended by the service’s critical care car fleet.

A third (351) of all missions were for cardiac emergencies – a rise from 2021, where 306 such incidents were reported. Additionally, the charity attended 174 road traffic collisions, 74 medical collapses, 51 sporting incidents and 44 assaults.

Over one in 10 (139) incidents involved children, while almost a third (329) took place at night. Call-outs peaked in November, with 104 missions, while the previous month, saw the lowest number of incidents (59).

Cornwall Air Ambulance

Cornwall Air Ambulance (CAA) responded to 1,050 call-outs in 2022, including 462 trauma-related incidents, 330 cardiac arrests and 252 general medical emergencies.

The overall figure is slightly below the previous year – in 2021, CAA responded to 1,092 call-outs –and the number of trauma-related injuries has declined further, from 551 incidents in 2021.

The charity also carried out 14 blood transfusions, half of which were conducted onboard their helicopter. The other seven were done in ground-based rapid response vehicles. 2022 was the second year since CAA introduced onboard blood supplies in February 2021.

“2022 was another busy year for our charity, not only in incident numbers, but across the board,” said Tim Bunting, Chief Executive at Cornwall Air Ambulance. “We introduced two new rapid response vehicles, building work started on the extension to our headquarters building, we launched our first blue light festival Helifest, and welcomed a new pilot to the team, to name a few things.”

Elsewhere in the UK, the Thames Valley Air Ambulance reported over 3,000 callouts in 2022 – the charity’s busiest year since records began.