East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) has revealed that July was the charity's busiest month on record in over four years, and it was also EAAA's busiest ever July.

The UK air ambulance charity, which has two teams that operate a pair of H145 helicopters from Norwich and Cambridge to take the accident and emergency department to the patient, wherever they may be in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk or Norfolk, was tasked 266 times across the region in July. This was 38 more than in June, where the charity was called out 228 times, a 16 per cent increase month on month. In comparison, in July 2020 the charity was tasked 247 times and in July 2019 235 times, making July 2021 EAAA's busiest ever July.

With more people staying in the UK this summer, the demand on resources such as air ambulances is expected to increase. In addition, this period covers the charity's first month of 24/7 flying, making the medical teams available to more people by helicopter during the early hours of the morning. The top three reasons for calling out the air ambulance teams in July were medical emergency, cardiac arrest and accidental injury.

EAAA CEO Matthew Jones says: “It's not surprising that our teams have been particularly busy in July with the number of people staying in the UK this summer, and choosing to holiday in this part of the world, much higher than normal. We're only a few weeks into August and already it's feeling like another very busy month. On 30 June we also started flying throughout the night for the first time, making our operation 24/7 by air and by road. This is certainly adding to the number of missions we can now attend overnight and is part of the reason for the increase we're seeing here.

“We need to raise GBP15 million a year to deliver and develop our life-saving service, and 266 taskings in July provides a stark reminder of why we do what we do. To be there for those people in the most life-changing or life-threatening circumstances. It's only thanks to the generosity of people throughout the region that we're able to take enhanced critical care to the scene of accidents and emergencies to help save lives, and we're incredibly thankful for every donation we receive.”