Air Ambulance fight is over as Welshpool loses base
Despite several blows to stop the charity closing its Welshpool and Caernarfon bases in favour of a new one in north east Wales, campaigners hoped that one final appeal hearing could save the day.
But that is not case after the Court of Appeal decided to refuse an appeal hearing into the closure.
It leaves no other options available, meaning that next year we could see the end of the famous red helicopters flying out of our local airport.
It is hoped though that a land vehicle will replace it, providing round-the-clock immediate responses for the local area.
A statement from The Save Welshpool Air Ambulance Base Group said:
“It is deeply disappointing to hear the Court of Appeal’s decision to refuse an appeal hearing into the closure of the Welshpool Air Ambulance base.
This ruling marks the end of a long and passionate legal and public campaign to retain the vital emergency service in Mid Wales. Despite widespread public opposition, including thousands of petition signatures and packed community meetings, the legal avenues to challenge the decision made by NHS Wales’ Joint Commissioning Committee (JCC) have now been exhausted.
As part of the proposed changes, various ‘mitigation’ measures were announced, including additional road vehicles for areas of mid and north Wales. Whilst we don’t think these measures are in any way sufficient, we will be holding decision makers to account on their commitment that no bases would close until these additional road vehicles were in place.
We want to pay tribute to the many individuals who fought tirelessly to challenge the closure of the mid Wales base, whether through petitions, fundraising, or public campaigning. This has been an extraordinary campaign and demonstrates the strength of feeling across our communities.”
The group members are: Cynthia Duce, Clive Duce, Cllr Joy Jones, Cllr Graham Breeze, Cllr Elwyn Vaughan, Russell George MS, Bob Benyon, Andy O’Regan.
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