Busiest year of record for air ambulance

Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance has experienced its busiest year on record, responding to 1,771 missions in the last 12 months.

The charity’s crews of pilots, doctors and paramedics responded to 541 missions in Nottinghamshire, 1,044 in Lincolnshire and the remaining 186 in the surrounding counties.

Serious medical injuries accounted for 676 missions, followed by 488 road traffic incidents as well as 158 assaults and 50 sporting or leisure related injuries. The majority of patients were between 40 and 60 years of age.

Critically ill and injured patients were taken to hospitals including Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Sheffield Northern General and Lincoln County Hospital.

Christmas and New Year was particularly busy for the crews. On average LNAA teams respond to 4 missions per day, but over the nine days of the festive period they received 43 emergency calls to attend patients needing a range of life-saving treatments including blood transfusions, anaesthetics, and life-saving drugs. And between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, whilst families across Lincs and Notts celebrated at home, crews responded to 17 incidents making 2023 the busiest Christmas ever.

CEO, Karen Jobling said “Each year the number of missions we attend increases. Last year we responded to 151 more missions than in 2022, treating critically ill and injured patients across Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.”

Our Nottinghamshire critical care car celebrated its 4^th birthday in September and since its launch in 2019 has responded to 1,304 missions. A new car arrived in November and soon became a regular sight in Nottingham, taking our doctor/paramedic team swiftly to the scene of incidents.  Last year our Notts critical care car responded to 436 calls in the county. As a result of this increase in demand our Notts crew has expanded its presence and now operates every Thursday and Friday from 7am-7pm and Saturday and Sunday 7pm–7am.

Caring for a patient does not stop when the doctors and paramedics transfer them to hospital. LNAA’s Aftercare Team continued to grow from strength to strength and the team reached out to 916 patients and/or their families during 2023. From providing support and arranging 58 visits to HQ to being a listening ear, the team helped many patients come to terms with their injuries and cope with the impact of what happened to them.

Karen summed up by adding: “We start a new year with great optimism. 2024 is the 30^th anniversary for Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance and we have ambitious plans for the next 12 months so that we can be by the side of more patients. As a charity, we receive no direct government funding for our operations and we rely on the support of every community in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire for the £10million needed to operate 24 hours of the day, every day of the year. As demand for our service grows, we know that costs will also increase, and we thank everyone who has supported us in whatever way and enabled us to be by the side of patients, day and night.”