North Wales to get an air ambulance
WALES' second air ambulance is set to take off next summer.
Yesterday, the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust gave its support for a dedicated air ambulance service in North Wales.
A fundraising appeal is to be launched early next year, as each helicopter will cost £1m a year to operate.
The North Wales police helicopter, with a paramedic on board, has often been used to airlift casualties to hospital, but its use is restricted to life-saving missions. It can't be used for other purposes such as hospital transfers.
The first Welsh air ambulance, in South Wales, has flown nearly 800 missions since it began operating in March last year. Fundraising for that service has been so successful that seven-day cover is now provided. A charitable trust has raised £986,000 and there's enough cash to ensure the helicopter remains airborne for at least another six months.
Chief ambulance officer John Bottell, chairman of the charity, said the air ambulance service in South Wales had flown nearly four times as many mercy missions as the police helicopter used to.
Don Page, chief executive of the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, said the North Wales Police Authority had questioned the force's Chief Constable, Richard Brunstrom, about the cost of ambulance work by the force's helicopter.
Asked whether there was a need for the second air ambulance, Mr Bottell said, "A thousand people have benefited from much quicker access to hospital facilities. Clearly that will not have done them any harm."
Well said, that man!