3rd Air Ambulance Provides Vital Cover

... for mid and south east Wales

Based in Powys for three months from mid June, it will provide extra emergency cover across Mid and South East Wales during the busy summer months.

Image by: Wales Air Ambulance

 

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by Wales Air Ambulance

June 04, 2006

A third Air Ambulance helicopter is set to provide extra emergency cover across Mid and South East Wales during the busy summer months.

The Welsh Air Ambulance Charitable Trust has announced that its current aircraft provider has a specialist helicopter already kitted out as an air ambulance, which is available for a short period. Now the charity has seized the opportunity to use the helicopter, which will be based in Powys for three months from mid June. It will also assess both the level of need in the area and determine whether there is sufficient public support and funding to consider a permanent addition to the fleet.

For Bob Palmer, Chairman of the Welsh Air Ambulance Charitable Trust, this short-term measure is “very welcome.” For the months of June, July and August last year, Powys alone had 3000 emergency calls and around one third of these were life threatening.

“This is a one off opportunity that we could not miss. We have been offered very favourable rates and specialised training for the paramedics. This is an ideal opportunity to assess the need during the summer period whilst the roads are busy with extra traffic and whether we can consider the possibility of basing a permanent helicopter in Mid Wales.”

Dr Anton van Dellen, Director of Operations for the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust said: “We have been tasked into Llandrindod Wells, Brecon and Knighton in the past two weeks alone. On average up to 19% of our calls are into Mid Wales.”

The new service is due to start on Thursday 15 June and will run for 5 days a week (including weekends) eight hours a day until mid September.

Apart from the need to pay for a third helicopter, Wales Air Ambulance, which relies on voluntary funding, always needs additional public support. It has succeeded in increasing the hours of coverage operated by its two existing helicopters – one based in Caernarfon and the other at Swansea, from 8 to 10 hours, 7 days a week. In April the north helicopter alone was called to 83 incidents - 20 calls more than average.