THE lifesaving Midlands Air Ambulance Charity has attended its 60,000th mission - making it one of the busiest air ambulance operators in the UK.

The milestone mission took place last Wednesday (July 22) and saw emergency medics called to Newland Grove, Dudley, to reports of a cyclist who had fallen off her bicycle.

An ambulance, a paramedic officer, a Midlands Air Ambulance Charity critical care car and the charity’s helicopter from Cosford, with a MERIT trauma doctor on board attended the incident.

Following treatment at the scene, the patient was taken by ambulance to Russells Hall Hospital.

The lifesaving charity, which has its headquarters in Lye, attended 4,781 missions from April 2019 to March 2020 with its three air ambulances and two critical care cars and charity bosses say missions have increased 25 per cent year on year.

The charity’s clinicians bring hospital-level procedures and medicines to the patient by helicopter or rapid response critical care car.

These include sedative techniques and anaesthesia, plus interventions such as advanced pain relief, enhanced airway management and surgical skills, all of which enables the critical care team to optimise a patient’s presenting condition giving them the best possible chance of survival and recovery.

The most common types of incident the charity attends are cardiac related, road traffic collisions, falls and collapses, stabbings and sporting and equestrian incidents.

Ian Roberts, air operations manager for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, said: “We put the patients who need us at the heart of everything we do.

“Demand for our service does not falter, which is why we have now reached our 60,000th mission before our 30th anniversary next year. It’s clear the advanced support delivered by the clinicians on-board our fleet of helicopters and critical care cars is needed now more than ever. Therefore, we are constantly looking to improve our operational services and provide the best advanced clinical care to those in critical need of our service.

“The addition of two critical care cars, based in Birmingham and the Black Country and Worcestershire areas, has played a crucial part in enabling us to expand our capacity to reach and treat a greater number of patients. These platforms allow us to geographically go where the helicopter would otherwise restrict us and deal with critical medical emergencies such as cardiac arrests. While demand for the essential pre-hospital service continues to rise, the pandemic has had a significant effect on the charity’s fundraising, and the organisation needs support, now more than ever.”

Midlands Air Ambulance Charity is hosting an online bucket collection, hoping to raise £10,000 before September, to help plug the gap in funds that would have been raised at the charity’s two open days. To make a donation visit midlandsairambulance.com/onlinebucketcollection.