Air ambulance attends 99 emergency incidents

Cornwall Air Ambulance said it was called to 99 emergency incidents in July

An air ambulance service responded to 99 emergency missions in July, according to the charity's latest figures.

Cornwall Air Ambulance said it was called to 36 trauma incidents, 35 medical emergencies, 27 cardiac arrests and one inter-hospital transfer.

The service, which operates across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said the summer period was "always our most busy".

The figures come as the charity reaches the halfway point in its "Heli2 appeal" to fund a second helicopter.

'Extreme demand'

The campaign was launched in 2023, with the charity aiming to raise £2.85m by 2025.

The trust said a second helicopter would "boost the resilience of the service" and enable the crew to "save even more lives".

Steve Garvey, air operations officer at Cornwall Air Ambulance, said: "We know that the summer period is always our busiest time of year, and that our mission numbers rise as the population of our county increases.

"This follows a busy June, where we saw a 28% rise in taskings compared to the same month last year, at 105, and May was our busiest on record with 117 emergency calls.

"More missions mean more flying hours, which puts extreme demand on our helicopter."

The charity has so far raised £1.12m of its Heli2 target to help secure the second helicopter.