COLUMN: Air Ambulance Base battle is not over yet!

In his monthly column for MyTown Media, Montgomeryshire MS Russell George shares what’s next in the fight to keep the lifesaving Wales Air Ambulance base in Werlshpool.

“A few weeks ago, we received the disappointing news that an appeal against a decision that would have led to the closure of the Welshpool Air Ambulance base had failed after a judgement in the High Court.

This followed an application for Judicial Review that was issued last year, with a hearing which took place during January and February this year.

This was an incredibly disappointing outcome, but this is not the end of the road in terms of challenging the decision. Following the handing down of the Judgment last month, an application for permission to appeal has now been made. This is the first stage of an appeal process.

I have been pleased to work alongside others and be part of the campaign group that has challenged this decision over the past three years.

As supporters of the Wales Air Ambulance service we were disappointed that this matter had to go as far as the courtroom but we were left with very little option when faced with the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee’s (JCC) decision to adopt recommendations which would see changes to the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS), including the permanent closure of air ambulance bases in Welshpool and Caernarfon.

The judicial review claim was put forward by a resident of Mid Wales and we were happy as a group to give the claim our full backing. While we are satisfied that Mr Justice Turner listened to all the arguments during three days of the Judicial Review hearing in Cardiff for and against the closure of the Mid and North Wales bases we are far from happy with the decision announced.

From the outset we challenged the facts and reasons for change and questioned decision makers why they find it acceptable that 40 communities will receive a slower service and why it is reasonable to accept an increased unmet need in Mid & North Wales.

I believe that the proposals to close the Air Ambulance’s bases in Welshpool and Caernarfon were based on flawed information, and that the process has been filled with bias, misinformation and misdirection.

The people of Mid Wales were not asking for preferential treatment, we were asking for fairness. The people of Mid & North Wales deserve the same standard of care as those in urban areas.

As a group, we have met to discuss the next steps, and how we can hold the relevant bodies that claimed that the proposed changes would lead to an improved service, to account. As part of the proposed changes, various ‘mitigation’ measures were announced. Whilst I don’t think the measures announced were sufficient, our attention will now be on further scrutiny of the promised additional road vehicles that were proposed to cover areas of Mid Wales once and if the Welshpool site closes.

I want to pay tribute to the many individuals who fought tirelessly to challenge the closure of our base, whether through petitions, fundraising, or public campaigning. This has been an extraordinary campaign and demonstrates the strength of feeling across our communities.

As a campaign team, we now wait for the outcome of the application for permission to appeal. This marks the first formal stage in the appeal process, requesting that Mr Justice Turner himself grant permission to challenge his ruling.