Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance has reached a major milestone of 15,000 life-saving missions by air, with one Isle of Wight cardiac arrest survivor highlighting just how vital the service is.
The landmark mission saw the charity’s doctors, dispatchers, pilots and paramedics respond to an incident in Hook on Wednesday (1st April), where a patient required emergency critical care. The team treated the patient at the scene before transferring them to the hospital by road ambulance so care could continue en route.
Since its first take-off on 1st July 2007, the service has responded to more than 23,000 emergencies across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and surrounding areas, including 15,000 by air and 8,434 by road. Incidents attended range from cardiac arrests and serious falls to assaults.
Highly trained doctors and advanced paramedics are able to carry out complex hospital-level procedures at the scene, including thoracotomies and even limb amputations, whether at the roadside, in homes, public spaces or rural locations.
Each mission costs an average of £3,500, with the charity relying entirely on public donations to continue its work.
One of those 15,000 missions involved Carmen Wragg, who suffered a heart attack followed by a cardiac arrest while visiting the Isle of Wight in June 2025. The incident occurred in the car park at St Mary’s Hospital, where staff performed CPR and placed her into an induced coma before she was airlifted for urgent specialist treatment.
Carmen, from Redditch in Worcestershire, has said:
“I was going around about my daily life without a care in the world. And then everything went wrong. I needed a stent, urgently. So, they got me into a stable situation, critical but relatively stable. Time was of the essence, so they called the air ambulance because they couldn’t take me by land or ferry. I may not have survived the journey because of the time. I needed to be treated rapidly.
“I know how important the air ambulance is and I’ve obviously got a huge appreciation for them.”
Richard Corbett, Chief Executive of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, has said:
“I am immensely proud of the efforts from everyone who has made this achievement possible. For many of those patients, it will be the worst day of their lives. But thanks to the extraordinary dedication from hundreds of expert crew members, charity staff and volunteers over the years, coupled with the generosity of our wonderful supporters, our team can try and make that day slightly better and give those patients the best possible chance of survival and recovery.”
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance is the charity that delivers an advanced Critical Care Team to sick and injured people in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight when they need it most.
Available both day and night, 365 days a year, the Air Ambulance Critical Care Team is called out an average of seven times a day to attend road traffic collisions, sporting accidents, collapses and many other incidents.
Donate today to help make their next mission possible.
Such a wonderful service, one of the last decent things
we have left in this country.