Today the Shropshire Star is launching a £70,000 appeal to provide a vital new service for the County Air Ambulance – and we are looking for your support.

Click here to see our exclusive video report.

For the past 16 years, the Shropshire-based air ambulance helicopter has saved lives by getting casualties to hospital in a fraction of the time that it takes by road.

But now we are looking to beef up the service further, by raising enough money to pay for the county’s first flying doctor.

This experienced, highly-trained expert will equip the helicopter with a new level of clinical expertise. The flying doctor will be able to perform emergency treatments paramedics are not qualified to do.

It will mean the air ambulance will be able to offer a higher level of on-the-spot medical skills, which could make the difference between life and death.

As well as being a super swift transport to hospital, the air ambulance will be transformed into an airborne mini treatment centre.

In short, it will be able to give an even better service and give critically injured patients a better chance of survival.

People in Shropshire and Mid Wales have already done a wonderful job in raising the cash to keep the ambulance, based at RAF Cosford, flying.

But our flying doctor appeal is a specific, targeted fundraising effort on top.

The £70,000 goal will cover all the first-year costs involved in training, equipping, and covering the first year’s employment costs of the flying doctor.

And, knowing how our readers have responded so magnificently in the past, we think it is a realistic aspiration to have the flying doctor airborne in the early summer.

Jackie Gaze, Star promotions manager, said: “The air ambulance is a vital, front line service in our vast circulation area. Totally reliant on public funding, they’re committed and dedicated to our readers in their time of utmost need.

“We hope there will be a positive and rapid response to our appeal, in keeping with the lifesaving service they give us anywhere, anytime.”

We want readers to help get the appeal off the ground by sponsoring Air Miles for the new flying doctor – or to raise cash in the many and varied ways we know they can. With your help, we can make a flying start to the appeal. And do not forget – the next person who needs the air ambulance could be YOU.

To make an instant donation print and cut out the form here and send it to Flying Doctor Appeal, Star Promotions, Shropshire Star, Ketley, Telford TF1 5HU.

By Toby Neal

Click here to see our archive of Flying Doctor Appeal stories.