Your local air ambulance has announced its second busiest year in 20 years as it responded to 3,803 potentially lifesaving missions throughout 2023.

The Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance (WNAA) along with the Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA), have worked tirelessly around the clock over the past year, and despite the continued impact of the cost-of-living crisis the charity has continued to provide pre-hospital critical care across its five counties and further afield.

As the vital charity continued to provide support to the NHS and local communities when it mattered most, its dedicated crews were tasked to 3,803 potentially lifesaving missions via helicopter and Critical Care Car – 684 more than in 2022 – with DLRAA responding to 2,194 of the callouts and WNAA responding to 1,609.

The highest number of callouts were to Leicestershire and Rutland with 849, Derbyshire had 709 callouts, Northamptonshire 466 and Warwickshire had 453. A further 433 incidents were responded to across the West Midlands, 635 across Nottinghamshire, 98 across Lincolnshire, and many more split across other neighbouring counties.

Similar to last year, the highest number of callouts were to medical incidents at 35%, followed by road traffic collisions at 26%, with the ‘other’ category – consisting of assaults, self-harm, and mental health incidents – accounting for 24% of missions, falls 10%, sports 3% and industrial 2%.

“Despite continued economic difficulties everyone has faced over the last few years, the generous support from our local communities has meant our dedicated crews could continue attending lifesaving missions in 2023 – our second busiest year since we began in 2003,” said Head of Operations for the charity, Philip Bridle.

“We attended our 50,000th mission in 2023 and we continued to enhance our 24/7 services by bringing on new Critical Care Cars, introducing equipment to deliver critical care medicines and assist with surgical procedures, and continued to roll-out our training for critical care paramedics surrounding ultrasound – amongst many other things.

“We have plans to further improve our services this year through clinical developments and research studies and projects to ensure we continue to help lead the way in pre-hospital emergency medicine and patient care,” added Philip.

2023 was a remarkable year for the lifesaving charity as it welcomed a new CEO, Peta Wilkinson, celebrated WNAA’s 20th anniversary, celebrated DLRAA’s 15th anniversary and overall ‘Outstanding’ CQC rating and 50,000 missions milestone – with each of the charity’s services working tirelessly to save lives and alleviate sickness, wherever and whenever possible.

The charity’s mission remains clear, to continue providing an expert level of critical care to its patients and to support the NHS. As every year, the vital service will again be there – 365 days a year – for those in their hour of need and needs the continued support of its dedicated supporters to raise the £2,300 needed for every mission.