Demand on Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) continues to grow after the service recorded its busiest ever year.
The country's only charity air ambulance service responded to 967 call outs in 2022 from its bases at Perth and Aberdeen airports - a 19% increase on the previous year.
Using both helicopter air ambulances and Rapid Response Vehicles at both bases, SCAA has seen a sharp increase in the number of emergency call outs to road traffic collisions (187).
Newly released figures show that SCAA also airlifted more patients than ever before to often-critical hospital care (+8%), while traumatic injury cases continue to dominate SCAA's workload (38%), with nearly two thirds of all airlifted patients flown to the country's four Major Trauma Centres at Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
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Reflecting on another record year, SCAA Chief Executive David Craig said it was now "unthinkable" to imagine a pre-hospital service network in Scotland without the charity.
He said: "The growing reliance on SCAA, working closely with the Scottish Ambulance Service, shows what a vital role the charity plays in saving and improving lives in Scotland.
"Thousands of patients across the whole of Scotland and its many islands owe their life to the fast intervention of SCAA.
"The demand on our service has never been greater and our crews continue to respond impressively to deliver more emergency care year on year.
"Our record deployment to high-acuity trauma and time-critical illness shows the demanding role our teams fulfil - day in and day out, and their speed and level of care have proven to be life-saving for so many.”
As an integral part of Scotland's emergency response network, SCAA plays a vital role in getting paramedics and specialist teams quickly to the scene of serious illness and injury, providing life-saving care in the air and transferring patients onwards to appropriate hospitals.
This year it marks its 10th anniversary and Mr Craig also praised the generosity of the people of Scotland who continue to fund the service.
He said: "Throughout those 10 years, our supporters have kept SCAA in their hearts and contributed magnificently to ensure we were there for those most in need.
"With their ongoing generosity, SCAA will continue to respond to an ever-increasing workload throughout 2023 and beyond."
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