Thames Valley Air Ambulance has attended more than 3,000 callouts in a single year, the highest number since becoming an independent charity.
2022 was the busiest year on record for the charity, as it recorded 3,158 missions across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
This number is a rise of almost 10% on the previous year (2,880).
303 missions were made within Milton Keynes and the surrounding areas alone.
Critical care paramedics and doctors were called to 1,161 incidents in Berkshire, 1,086 in Buckinghamshire, 818 in Oxfordshire and 93 in the surrounding area.
Cardiac arrest remains the highest percentage of callouts for the year at 34% (1069), followed by medical emergencies at 21% (663), accidental injury at 16% (519) and road traffic collisions 14% (430).
The busiest month of the year was December with crews called to attend 305 callouts, followed by 276 in November and 275 in June.
Thames Valley Air Ambulance Chief Operating Officer Adam Panter said: “2022 was incredibly busy for our crews for a number of reasons including the impact of our communities returning to full and active lives. In addition to this, we are working hard to identify the cases which would benefit most from our crews’ expertise earlier and therefore dispatching our critical care teams to more of them.
“Answering 3,158 callouts is testament to their professionalism and the whole team at Thames Valley Air Ambulance supporting their lifesaving efforts. But this simply couldn’t happen without the community we serve; without their generous donations of funds and volunteering time, we wouldn’t be able to make the difference we do. Thank you.”
To see an interactive breakdown of Thames Valley Air Ambulance’s callout statistics, click here.
