Invitation to feedback on future of air ambulance service in Wales

You are invited to feedback on the options being considered to enable as many people as possible to benefit from the excellent clinical critical care that the air ambulance service in Wales provides.

The Chief Ambulance Services Commissioner is leading an engagement process on behalf of the Emergency Ambulance Services Committee. It is looking at how to improve the air ambulance service in Wales.

The service is a partnership between the Wales Air Ambulance Charity and the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS) of NHS Wales. Your feedback will help the Emergency Ambulance Services Committee, a Joint Committee of Health Boards in Wales, to address the main challenges in the current service operational arrangements.

There are approximately 2-3 patients per day across Wales who need the service but who currently do not receive it.

The review aims to ensure that:

• the people who need the service can access it no matter where they live in Wales or when they need it.

• the clinical teams are used as effectively as possible

• there is fair geographical coverage of Wales

• there is effective Rapid Response Vehicles (RRVs) especially when the helicopters can’t fly.

The air ambulance service is an all-Wales service. No matter where a patient is in Wales, the service goes to the patient. The service works the same way everywhere in Wales, no matter where help is needed and where calls are made from in Wales.

You are encouraged to read the engagement document – the Commissioner’s Report for Phase 3 - before completing this questionnaire. The engagement documents explain how each option was developed, and how they have been shortlisted and evaluated.

There is a wide range of ways to respond – through the online questionnaire, by email, phone, Easy-Read formats and post. All options and supporting information including FAQs is on the EASC website.

This engagement phase ends on 29 February 2024.