WILTSHIRE Air Ambulance was called out to the Swindon area every two days, on average, last year.

As the total number of missions rose in 2018 by 26 per cent, the charity has revealed how often it answered emergencies across the county.

And the largest number of call outs - 182 - were in the Swindon area, including Blunsdon, Wanborough and Wroughton, representing an increase of 76 on 2017.

The team was also called out to Royal Wootton Bassett 11 times, Cricklade on three occasions and Highworth once. There were 82 calls to the Melksham area, 79 to Chippenham, 75 to Devizes, 68 to Salisbury and 63 to Trowbridge.

Overall, the total number of missions undertaken in 2018 was 1,103, up by 228 on the previous year.

The charity’s helicopter flew 494 missions while its paramedics responded to 609 incidents in rapid response vehicles.

Chief executive David Philpott said: “The call out figures for 2018 show there was an increased demand for our essential lifesaving service.

"When our helicopter is unable to fly our critical care paramedics are available to respond to medical emergencies in rapid response vehicles. These vehicles have the same specialist medical equipment that is on-board our helicopter."

The charity recently revealed its annual costs have risen 15 per cent to £3.75 million a year. This means it has to raise just over £10,000 a day to keep its lifesaving service operational.

It has no government funding and receives nothing from the National Lottery.

Mr Philpott added: “We are only able to keep saving lives thanks to the generosity of the public and businesses who make donations."

The largest number of call outs 248 - were to cardiac emergencies, almost one in four of the total incidents.

Another 22 were to car crashes. One in ten incidents, or 109, involved children. There were also 62 calls to sports incidents of which almost half were to horse riders.

The air ambulance is able to operate until 3am and more than one in three of last year's missions were carried out at night. To support the charity email hello@wiltshireairambulance.co.uk or call 01225 300536.