Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance has responded to its 20,000th mission.

The life-saving charity, which launched its first flight in 2007, sent a paramedic and doctor team to an incident in Winchester late on Wednesday night. 

The critical care team attended in an emergency response vehicle and provided treatment to a patient who was taken to hospital by road ambulance.

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The team have responded to almost 2,000 call-outs this year – already surpassing the total in all of 2023 – an increase of almost 40 per cent on the same period last year.

July has had the most call-outs with 249, the largest number the service has ever had in a single month. The majority of incidents involved cardiac arrest, road traffic collisions and medical emergencies, such as seizures. Other cases included falls from height, assaults and sporting incidents.

(Image: Family collection) One of the 20,000 deployments was to 61-year-old Julian Pearce who had a cardiac arrest in his office at the University of Southampton, where he has taught for 29 years, in April 2024.

Julian’s colleagues performed CPR until the ambulance and air ambulance crews arrived.

He said: “I wasn't aware of what they could do. I just presumed they would resuscitate and shock me, get me breathing and bundle me into an ambulance to go to hospital.

"But the fact they intubated and ventilated me in the foyer of my workplace is frankly unbelievable. I feel like I've got another chance at life – and I feel that I need to grab that chance with both hands.   I haven't got the words to fully express my thanks for what they did.” 

(Image: HIOWAA)

CEO Richard Corbett added: “We’re currently charting at around a 40 per cent increase on the same period last year. That’s an enormous increase in pressure: pressure on our crews to perform more highly skilled, life-saving procedures in extremely testing settings. And it is also pressure on our charity team and our supporters to ensure we can raise enough money to keep the aircraft flying, meet the increased need for drugs, equipment and engineering support."

The charity recently launched Operation Airbase, a £3.6 million appeal to relocate its airbase close to Southampton Airport, to dramatically reduce response times.

Visit hiowaa.org/appeal to help.