Welshpool airport base for flying doctors

The new Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service Cymru team will be based alongside the Wales Air Ambulance and see NHS doctors flown to the scene of major emergencies.

Currently, the air ambulance carries a paramedic and pilot to the scene and the new system is expected to cut hospital transfer times by 40 per cent.

Vaughan Gething, Welsh deputy minister for health, said the service is designed to bring teams of doctors to an injured patient, giving them access to life-saving treatment at the scene of their injury or accident.

Mr Gething said it is estimated EMRTS Cymru could contribute to at least a 40 per cent improvement in survival rates from major trauma in Wales and could reduce transfer times to specialist hospital care by more than 40 per cent.

The introduction of the new service, which will serve all Wales, will mean 95 per cent of the population will be able to access doctor-led care within 30 minutes.

The service will be delivered by a team of NHS doctors from emergency medicine, anaesthesia and intensive care working jointly with critical care paramedics from the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

It will be delivered in partnership with the Wales Air Ambulance, using its existing three air ambulances from Welshpool, Caernarfon and Swansea.

The EMRTS service will provide NHS consultants to Wales Air Ambulance flights – it will be in addition to the charity's existing helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) operations across Wales.

Mr Gething said: "This new service will transform our ability to provide the very best care to the most critically-ill patients in Wales.

"It will provide patients in remote and rural areas of Wales with rapid access to the skills of a consultant in emergency or intensive care medicine, who are equipped to provide life-saving, specialist critical care.

"Our aim for specialist emergency services in Wales is for the most seriously-injured and sick patients to be treated by the very best clinicians, providing world-class, life-saving treatment. These highly-specialised services will be provided at a fewer number of hospitals in the future but they will be supported by a wider network of local hospitals, offering people access to local accident and emergency care."

Angela Hughes, chief executive of Wales Air Ambulance, added: "To secure NHS consultants on board our flights is a remarkable leap forward in providing one of the most advanced air ambulance services in the world.

"Over the last few years we have received incredible support from our fundraisers to upgrade our three helicopters and trial night flights, and the addition of doctors to all Wales Air Ambulance flights is another fantastic development in our service to people across Wales."

The Welsh government has spent £1.895m to set up the service and will spend £2.868m a year on maintaining it.