Retail Volunteer Story – Luke
December 18, 2024
Meet Trainee Critical Care Doctor, Celestine
January 17, 2025
Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC) has been called to a record number of incidents in 2024. Our specialist crew responded to 2,272 people in urgent need of critical care — an increase of around 15% compared to 2023.
Since we were founded in 2007, incident numbers have been steadily increasing and the demand for the service is now higher than ever. With an EC135 helicopter and three critical care cars, our specially trained crew respond to people in urgent need with the skills and kit usually found in a hospital emergency department. By getting to the patient fast and providing treatment before they get to hospital, our work can be lifesaving.
Tim Ross Smith, GWAAC’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.”
Image taken from a simulation
Our crew carry specialist equipment such as LUCAS devices to perform mechanical CPR
Last year we were called to more babies, children and teenagers than ever before
We were called to 501 people in cardiac arrest (22% of all missions) meaning it is still the biggest single reason that GWAAC’s service might be needed. That is one reason why we have focused our efforts on our Great Western Hearts programme which helps communities prepare to help someone in cardiac arrest — someone like Forrest who suffered a cardiac arrest while doing a parkrun. Forrest says, “Without a doubt, without the help of Great Western Air Ambulance Charity, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Our 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 (17% of GWAAC’s total call-outs).
The next most common type of incident that the crew responded to was road traffic collisions with 338 people needing GWAAC's help at the roadside.
Overall, serious medical-related incidents accounted for 55% of our total missions in 2024, while trauma-related injuries accounted for 45% of missions.
Bristol and Gloucestershire were the two regions we were called to most in 2025, with 656 and 621 people respectively needing the skills of GWAAC’s specialist team (29% and 27% of GWAAC’s total call-outs). The next busiest was South Gloucestershire with 345, then North Somerset with 277, Wiltshire with 124, and Bath and North East Somerset with 123. The crew responded to 126 incidents out of GWAAC’s region including Wales and Somerset.
