Thames Valley Air Ambulance handles thousands of emergencies last year

By rushing to the scene of serious incidents and medical emergencies, the independent charity saves thousands of lives across the Thames Valley area.

2022 was the charity’s busiest year on record as its helicopters and emergency medical staff attended more than 3,000 callouts last year.

They attended 3,158 life-saving missions across Bucks, Berks and Oxfordshire.

This means almost a 10 percent rise from 2,880 callouts the previous year.

Thames Valley Air Ambulance Chief Operating Officer Adam Panter commented: “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.”

Breakdown of callouts in Thames Valley area

Critical care paramedics and doctors were called to 1,161 incidents in Berkshire.

In Buckinghamshire, the emergency teams attended 1,086 callouts, 818 in Oxfordshire and 93 in the surrounding area.

Cardiac arrest emergencies remained the leading cause for callouts with 1,069 callouts (34 percent).

It was followed by medical emergencies at 663 (21 percent), accidental injury at 519 (16 percent) and 430 road traffic collision related callouts (14 percent).

We were called out 26 times between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. That's 26 families whose lives have been turned upside down. For those unfortunate enough to need our services, our Aftercare team provide ongoing support beyond the scene of the emergency. https://t.co/JebMXPwGhB pic.twitter.com/a5TZbw4w6v

— Thames Valley Air Ambulance (@TVAirAmb) December 27, 2022

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This follows the trend set by the previous year when cardiac arrest was also the leading cause for callouts, followed by medical emergencies, accidental injury and road traffic collisions.

December was the busiest month of the year. The crews were called to 305 incidents, followed by 276 incidents in November and 275 in June.

Thames Valley Air Ambulance relies on donations from the community as it doesn't receive regular funding from the government or the National Lottery.