January 6, 2023 7.15 am This story is over 24 months old

Most successful year ever for ambucopter charity – over 1,600 callouts in 2022

Another record-breaking year for LNAA

By Local Democracy Reporter

Life-saving charity Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance responded to over 1,620 missions in 2022, making it the most successful year in its history.

The local helicopter emergency service charity is among the leaders of its sector in the UK, bringing the equivalent of a hospital emergency department to patients at the scene, and it has continued to assist people in and around Lincolnshire for numerous years now.

Crews are on call 24/7, 365 days a year, so each year is busy when you work for Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance – but the last 12 months have seen more attended incidents than ever for the charity.

2022 saw the crews respond to more than 1,620 incidents across the regions it covers, which is more than 130 incidents higher than last year.

Of these callouts, 1,003 of them took place in Lincolnshire, with a further 441 in Nottinghamshire and a handful more elsewhere in the country.

An air ambulance landing on the beach in Cleethorpes for a job. | Photo: LNAA

CEO, Karen Jobling said: “This year has certainly been busy for the charity as a whole and we anticipate being even busier in 2023.

“Registration with the CQC means that we are now clinically independent, able to develop our services based on the very specific and critical nature of the on-scene care given by our HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Services) team. Our crews can now adapt quicker to emergency advances in drugs and treatments which will ultimately benefit the patients we treat.”

The boost in numbers can be partly attributed to LNAA’s full registration with the Care Quality Commission last year, as well as increased night flying and more blood being carried on board.

A total of 602 missions were carried out by the charity during hours of darkness, which is more than double the 2021 figure.

Karen summed up the year by adding: “There are exciting times ahead for LNAA, as we continue to challenge ourselves to improve and deliver our life-saving service to increasingly more people each year.

“All this is only possible with the support from the communities and organisations in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire as we receive no direct funding from the Government.

“Last year we needed £8million to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and we know that with increased costs and increased demand this cost will increase in 2023.

“We thank everyone who has supported us over the last twelve months and enabled us to continue to be by the side of patients, day and night.”