Judicial review move to reverse Powys Air Ambulance closure

Campaigners to save the Welshpool and Caernarfon Air Ambulance bases have said they are looking to raise funds to make a legal challenge to the decision to close the two bases and combine them at a new site in North Wales

The groups in Powys and Caernarfon have said the vote to close the base was “fundamentally flawed” and the campaign groups have decided that a judicial review is the way forward.

In a statement they said: “With a heavy heart, we agreed that the most appropriate course of action now is to begin the process of seeking a Judicial Review.

“This is a complex and potentially costly process, and we have already begun to seek professional advice on the first stages of that journey.

“The reconfiguration of Air Ambulance Critical Care services in Wales, from a point before any of us had heard of the proposal to close the bases, has been a process filled with bias, misinformation and misdirection.

“A Judicial Review would allow a judge to re-evaluate the decision-making process and we believe it would bring much needed transparency and objectivity and examine to what extent the process delivered a predetermined outcome.”

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The groups are now looking to work out ways to fund their legal challenge and have already sought out legal advice.

They added: “There will be phases during this process that will require us to raise significant extra sums of money in order to pay the costs, and we hope that supporters of the campaigns to retain and enhance Critical Care services where they are so desperately needed will help us with that, as they have done to-date.

The fact that we will be asking for any money at all is something that really saddens us. However, without a formal review of this process, we know that people and communities in Mid and North West Wales will lose timely access to this essential service when they need it most, and we are left with little other option.

We do not need any additional funds yet, as we are receiving preliminary advice through the generosity of those giving it.

"When the time comes to crowdfund, we will put a call out. In the meantime, if you feel that you have skills, knowledge or information that would be useful in these next steps, please do get in touch.

“We’d like to thank supporters for their determination in seeing this through to a positive outcome. We also thank the Health Boards, clinicians, and other health professionals that have challenged or spoken out against the decision taken.

"We hope decision makers will re-consider this decision, and work to regain the trust of the communities of rural Wales without being forced to consider doing so by a judge.”