The Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance Charity has revealed it undertook a record number of missions to the city in 2024, helping save the lives of people in the local community.
Photo © Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance Charity
Overall missions hit an all-time high of 1,343, which represents a 15% increase on the previous year.
Bath was the second-most visited area, behind Swindon, with 117 missions in the city.
The air ambulance charity also transported 109 patients to the Royal United Hospital at Combe Park.
Chief executive David Philpott said: “In late 2024 we rebranded to Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance Charity to better represent our operational area.
“Our latest annual statistics highlight this, with over 100 incidents in the city alone for the first time, equating to around nine per cent of our 2024 missions.
“It’s also sad to report that demand for our medical expertise rose significantly across Wiltshire and Bath during the last 12 months. 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.”
Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance Charity’s dedicated aircrew, consisting of pilots, critical care paramedics and doctors, undertook, on average, four missions each day in 2024.
The charity’s helicopter was used for 619 (46%) of the missions, with the remaining 724 incidents attended by critical care cars.
A total of 341 patients were transferred to local hospitals (up from 292 in 2023), the majority of which to Royal United Hospital, Bath (109), Southmead Hospital, Bristol (82) and Great Western Hospital, Swindon (72).
The largest number of callouts were to cardiac emergencies – 326, which equates to around a quarter of all missions.
There were 190 road traffic collisions attended, plus 287 medical emergencies, 72 sporting incidents and 58 assaults.
A total of 187 incidents involved children, while 32% of all missions (428) took place at night.
The aircrew was also tasked to incidents outside of its operational patch, including in counties such as the City of Bristol, Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Wales.
