2018 was an incredibly busy year for the crew and team at Cornwall Air Ambulance, with a total of 1053 missions easily surpassing the 2017 figures. The Cornwall Air Ambulance crew are dispatched to the most critical incidents and the most difficult to reach locations in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, where every minute matters. By providing urgent care and conveying patients at speed for further treatment, lives are saved and families kept together.

Over the course of the year, the crew attended 600 medical incidents, of which 358 were cardiac and 94 neurological emergencies.

483 trauma injuries were treated with 158 road traffic accidents, 131 serious falls and 20 equestrian incidents.

Babies and young people accounted for around 10% of missions, with 140 cases over the twelve months.

One reason for the rising number of missions is the increase in the number of visitors to Cornwall that we saw in 2018. Incidents involving non-resident patients rose to a total of 162, 15% of the total missions. With visitor numbers to Cornwall set to keep rising, this percentage looks set to continue growing.

While the focus has been around the New Heli Appeal and bringing a bigger and faster helicopter to Cornwall by 2020, the day-to-day operations continue to make a huge difference to patients and their families in Cornwall.

In 2019, the New Heli Appeal will take on a new-found urgency as the deadline to raise £2.5m approaches.