Wiltshire Air Ambulance experiences a big increase in costs

The cost of running Wiltshire’s Air Ambulance has increased by more than £500,000, which will come from us – directly or indirectly – in the form of donations, spend at Air Ambulance supporting events, the charity shop or business.

Flying for more than thirty years, since 1990 the costs this year have suffered a massive hike. Whereas the previous annual fundraising target was £4m, due to a range of different factors this has now increased to £4.5m. Charity chair Rob Kevan explains:

“We continue to build resilience within our aircrew rota, with more pre-hospital doctors now on board than ever before. In addition, we remain committed to advancing the training and development of our critical care paramedics and trainee critical care paramedics.

“However, in our endeavour to enhance our patient care, with investment in clinical upskilling we have to contend with rising costs, including fuel and utility bills, and those associated with our Devizes charity shop. Subsequently, our fundraising need has risen to £4.5 million each year, which put into greater context means generating over £12,000 every single day.”

Rob added: “This is a huge challenge for our very dedicated charity team but one I am confident they will rise to, as they have done many times in the past, especially seen during the Coronavirus pandemic and more recently as we go through this Cost-of-Living crisis.”

For all of us this could be life or death as the Air Ambulance provides a unique and valuable service, delivering each of us, possible, if / when we are in need – to a hospital in the quickest possible way.

Last year alone the charity was called to 1,167 incidents across Wiltshire, Bath and surrounding areas, which represented an increase in clinical need of 10.6% on the previous 12-month period. 

Wiltshire Air Ambulance receives no regular direct Government funding or National Lottery grants, so relies on the generosity of the public and local businesses to continue its lifesaving work.

The charity operates up to 19 hours a day, 365 days a year. On average, its aircrew will respond to three lifesaving missions every day.

To find out more about the Wiltshire Air Ambulance service visit their website at www.wiltshireairambulance.co.uk.