Landmark call for Air Ambulance

25/08/2013 @ 10:39

Wales Air Ambulance has carried out its 18,000th emergency rescue 12 years after the service was launched.

A man with a suspected bleed on the brain was treated by a crew from Welshpool, and taken to hospital for help.

Wales has three helicopters based in Swansea in the south, Welshpool and Caernarfon in the north.

The service, funded by public donations, was launched on March 1, 2001 and answers 2,000 calls a year.

It costs £6m to run - all raised from charitable donations from the public.

The 18,000th mission saw paramedics treat the man before airlifting him 30 miles (48 km) away to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital - which took just seven minutes.

Jason Williams, clinical and operations manager, said: "Just five minutes after receiving the emergency call our team were on the scene and it took just 49 minutes for the gentleman to reach hospital.

"A patient's chances of survival and early recovery are greatly increased if they receive the right care within the golden hour - the first 60 minutes after an incident."

Brain haemorrhages make up around 6% of all Wales Air Ambulance call-outs.

4,100 of the 18,000 calls were to road crashes

22% involved motorcyclists

12% were to cyclists

6% to pedestrians

2,100 calls to sports and leisure injuries

670 calls to horse riders

20% were to injuries on rugby pitches