London Air Ambulance has released new data about its life-saving work as it faces a six-million income shortfall in the next five years.

The service treated 24 critically injured people in Kingston Upon Thames last year - two per month - new data released by the service shows.

In total, the air ambulance's advanced trauma teams came to the aid of 1494 patients in 2020.

Haringey, Southwark and Greenwich were the busiest London boroughs.

More than a third of the incidents attended by the air ambulance were injuries related to shootings or stabbings, with a quarter from road accidents and 22% related to falls from a height.

The service has kept going over the pandemic but suffered financially after the fundraising activities it typically relies on were cancelled due to social distancing restrictions.

These included its annual Abseil event, which the previous year raised £132,000, and the London Marathon, expected to raise approximately £82,000.

Although London Air Ambulance works in partnership with two NHS Trusts, it relies primarily on charitable donations for its funding and is facing a six million funding gap in the next five years.

Each mission costs £2,048 on average, and per year it takes £11 million to run the service.

Earlier this week, a petition calling for the UK's air ambulance services to be funded by the government was

"Duringthepandemic1494patientsstillneededtheexpertclinicalcarethatonlyLondon'sAirAmbulancecanprovide.