Last month the final phase of a consultation considering potential changes to Wales Air Ambulance base locations opened, writes Russell George MS.

I want to ask for your help to secure the future of the Mid Wales Air Ambulance base.

It’s vitally important that we have one last push to give our clear community view that Welshpool’s base should remain open for the long-term.

The engagement process is being led by Stephen Harrhy, the Chief Ambulance Service Commissioner for Wales who will make a recommendation to the Emergency Ambulance Services Committee (a service within the Welsh NHS) that will then make a decision, which will include the future of the Mid Wales’s Air Ambulance base at Welshpool.

Ultimately any final decision will be the responsibility of the Welsh Government, who are responsible for all Welsh NHS services.

This is the final opportunity to give your views before the decision is made in December.

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From the start, my main concern has been that closing Welshpool and Caernarfon’s bases would lead to a poorer service for Mid Wales.

This has now been demonstrated by modelling data from Optima, a company commissioned as part of the process to examine the potential impacts of any change.

Their work has clearly found that merging bases into one North East Wales site would lead to slower overall response times in Mid Wales.

Key areas of concern for me are:
At the start of this final consultation phase, it was stated that any impact from changes would be “tiny”. If this is the case, we would question the need for existing bases to close which would lead to continued local concern.

Get in touch

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If only one base is operated from to cover the Mid and North Wales area, poor weather could mean both air ambulances located at this one base are grounded.

It has previously been stated that the need for change is about patient outcomes, not economics. During the final consultation, it now appears that economics is a factor in the final recommendation.

Both Craig Williams MP and I attended public meetings in Welshpool and Newtown on October 12th and 13th respectively, and many thanks to those who attended these meetings as well as the public meeting in Machynlleth.
You should again respond to ensure your views are captured in the final consultation. This is about stating why retaining the base in Welshpool is so important to you.’