Duchess visits air ambulance after 'busiest year'

The Duchess of Edinburgh has visited the headquarters of Thames Valley Air Ambulance after the service's "busiest year yet".

Based in Stokenchurch and serving Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, the ambulance said its critical care paramedic and doctor crews were called out 3,302 times in 2025.

Sophie, who is the Royal Patron of the charity, toured the expanded education and operations areas and was shown how crews harness state-of-the-art technology to make operations more efficient.

She unveiled a plaque to officially commemorate the visit.

The charity said it had followed up 1,230 cardiac arrests throughout the year - more than three a day.

It responded to 1,162 call-outs in Buckinghamshire, 958 in Oxfordshire and 1,090 in Berkshire.

Crews attended 223 seriously ill or injured children, including 82 children under the age of five.

The duchess watched critical care paramedics and doctors undertake a training scenario in the Pre-hospital Education Centre which she opened.

James Perks, a critical care paramedic, said they could now create "really high fidelity scenarios".

"I think something the duchess picked up upon was that it's not just the procedures or the medicine actually, it's deploying that and delivering that in austere environments and that's what we can do by having these facilities around us."

Amanda McLean, chief executive of Thames Valley Air Ambulance, said it had been "an honour" to welcome the royal.

"A former patient as well as our Royal Patron, the duchess has always been passionate about our mission to give everyone in the region the best possible chance of survival and recovery," she said.

"She was really supportive during the Covid pandemic, she attended calls with crews online and talking to them and she's been to our 21st birthday, so she's very familiar with what's going on - really interested and really supportive."

You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.