A RECORD number of incidents were responded to by the Great Western Air Ambulance in 2024.

The crew responded to 2,272 people in urgent need of care, an increase of around 15 per cent compared to 2023.

Since the charity was created in 2007, incident numbers have been steadily increasing and the demand for the service is now higher than ever.

With a helicopter and three critical care cars, the specially trained crew respond to people in urgent need of immediate critical care with the skills and kit usually found in a hospital emergency department.

Getting to the patient fast and providing treatment before they get to hospital can be lifesaving.

The crew was called to 501 people in cardiac arrest, 22 per cent of all their missions. The charity has focused efforts on its Great Western Hearts programme which helps communities prepare to help someone in cardiac arrest.

GWAAC’s crew was also tasked to more babies, children and teenagers in urgent need of critical care than ever before.

Despatches to young people have risen year on year for the last three years and in 2024 they reached a new level when the crew was called to help 379 people within that age group, making up 17 per cent of GWAAC’s total call-outs.

The next most common type of incident that they responded to was road traffic collisions with 338 people needing GWAAC’s help at the roadside.

Overall, serious medical-related incidents accounted for 55 per cent of GWAAC’s total missions in 2024, while trauma-related injuries accounted for 45 per cent of missions.

Across its region of Bristol, Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, and parts of Wiltshire, GWAAC’s crew responded to 77 percent of call-outs in one of the charity’s fully-equipped critical care cars and 23 in its helicopter.

Tim Ross Smith, Great Western Air Ambulance Charity’s operations officer, said “We're now seeing six patients a day on average within our operating hours. Demand generally across the NHS is up and we're getting more requests for assistance from our local land ambulance crews on top of the traditional air ambulance call-outs for incidents like road traffic collisions and cardiac arrests.

“This could be due to the outreach work our crew are doing, educating land paramedics, but also because, over time, our ambulance service colleagues have an increased recognition that our team can support with more nuanced decision making in complex situations.”