Five cases a day for air ambulance responders

DEVON'S Air Ambulance was scrambled 1,828 times during 2022, according to new figures released - averaging more than five launches every day.

- GUY HENDERSON

The crew was also called to help at incidents in Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset last year.

Of those 1,828 missions, 887 were to help patients with medical emergencies and 929 were trauma-related incidents, including accidents and injuries caused by slips, trips, falls, burns and road traffic collisions.

Nigel Hare, patient services operations director, paid tribute to the critical care doctors and paramedics "who every day deliver time-critical life-saving care to patients in challenging circumstances".

Mr Hare added: "This is only possible thanks to the team working tirelessly behind the scenes who ensure our helicopters, critical care cars and medical equipment are always ready.

"They identify and dispatch our crews to the patients most in need of our help, provide ongoing support to our patients and their families, and manage our service in the 'outstanding' way that the Care Quality Commission found during their inspection in June."