On 15 March 2024 we are celebrating our 34th birthday.

That's 34 years of lifesaving missions and 34 years of continued support from the people of Wiltshire, Bath and surrounding areas.

Our Thankathon has been kindly supported by local printers Corsham Print.

A scanned photo of a red helicopter landed in a field with police lifting a patient on a stretcher.

Our impact in 2023

A paramedic wearing an orange flight suit walking towards a yellow and green helicopter

Total missions

In 2023 our aircrew were called to 1,167 missions across Wiltshire, Bath and surrounding areas, which meant the need for our service increased by 10.6% when compared with the previous 12 months.
Two paramedics wearing orange flights walking away from the helicopter that has landed in a grass field. They are both carrying medical bags and equipment.

Helicopter

In 2023 our helicopter was used for 646 (55%) of the missions.
The critical care car on a road

Critical care cars

In 2023 521 of our incidents were attended by critical care cars.

Find out more

View our interactive mission map

Find out how many times our aircrew we have been called to your area. 

View map

On scene, the critical care paramedics and pre-hospital doctors that form our aircrew – alongside the line pilots – were called upon to undertake more surgical procedures, blood transfusions and pre-hospital emergency anaesthesia than ever before.

Below you can find a snapshot of the type of procedures being carried out by the Wiltshire Air Ambulance aircrew.

Dr Jono Holme delivering drugs to a patient in flight
Procedural sedations

Last year the team carried out 49 procedural sedations, which enables our crews to perform a variety of therapeutic interventions to reduce pain and suffering following trauma.

This was a 58% increase in procedural sedations when compared to the previous year.

A paramedic who is being handed a delivery box of blood products from a biker wearing a high vis jacket and a helmet.
Blood transfusions

Blood transfusions rose 44% in 2023, with 36 patients receiving the crucial intervention from our crews.

We began carrying blood in 2015, and now have two units of O Negative red blood cells, two units of O Positive red blood cells and four units of plasma on board.

Paramedic Sophie And Dr Jono Training on a manikin, surrounded by kit bags
Pre-hospital emergency anesthesia

The number of patients treated with pre-hospital emergency anesthesia went up by 18% to 45 last year. 

This is a vital yet high-risk intervention performed by our critical care teams in order to gain rapid control of a patient's physiology following serious traumatic or medical incidents.

Elsewhere, our aircrew supported 108 patients in 2023 with advanced airway management (up from 90 in 2022), carried out 12 surgical interventions and on 90 occasions the team used the LUCAS machine to deliver CPR.

During 2023 our doctors performed nine regional nerve blocks to patients, which is a skill our critical care paramedics will be able to undertake going forwards as the charity continues to enhance its clinical operations.

Wiltshire Air Ambulance needs £4.5 million a year to continue its lifesaving service

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