LIFE-SAVING air ambulance staff had their busiest year, going to more incidents in 2018 than ever before.

Essex and Herts Air Ambulance went to 1,491 patients last year – an increase of two per cent on 2017.

In just two years, the number of patients treated by staff has risen from 1,077 – an increase of 38 per cent.

The charity’s vehicles were sent to 2,241 incidents in 2018, including 1,416 emergencies in Essex.

Almost 40 per cent of call-outs were for patients experiencing medical problems.

Road traffic collisions accounted for a quarter of calls, while 15 per cent were for accidental injuries.

The remaining 22 per cent included a mix of cases, including assaults as well as sport and leisure-related accidents. Saturday is the busiest day of the week for the service, with more than 300 missions taking place throughout 2018.

There were more than 200 missions each in May, June and July, making summer the busiest part of the year.

Spokesman Stuart Elms, said: “The need for the charity’s life-saving service is as strong now as it was 20 years ago when our first helicopter, covering just Essex, took to the air with two paramedics in 1998.

“We now operate critical care teams consisting of a pre-hospital care doctor and critical care paramedic and have two state-of-the-art helicopters covering the counties of Essex and Hertfordshire.

“They are backed up by rapid response vehicles after sunset and in poor weather.”