The people of Mid and West Wales have every right to feel angry and betrayed.

Angry, because once more they are being treated like second-class citizens in their nation when it comes to the vital service being provided across the breadth of rural Wales by the Air Ambulance Service.

Betrayed, because thousands of people at hundreds of charity events across this region have raised millions of pounds to keep the vital service flying -- flying from local bases in Caernarfon and Welshpool.

For the past two years or so, a review has been underway on the organisation of the service, That review has finished and has wrongly concluded that the two bases should close, with the aircraft based in Caernarfon and Welshpool being moved to other bases in North and South Wales.

The review says that the aircraft would be put to better use providing cover for more densely populated corridors at both ends of the country. And that conclusion exactly underscores why the air ambulance bases are needed here, in this region.

They just don’t get it.

Everyone who call this region homes knows of patients who have had to endure painful or debilitating injuries and illnesses waiting hours upon hours for an ambulance to come.

And everyone knows too that our road system is a mess, too narrow, too old, too creaking, and too jammed in the summer months for anyone to move anywhere at any speed. And no, that 20mph speed limit hasn’t helped either.

But when a serious accident does occur, we need life-saving help as quickly as possible. There are numerous stories of people alive now because an air ambulance was quickly able to provide the help and lifeline when needed. And those helicopters flew from bases in Welshpool and Caernarfon. Local bases covering a sparse area.

Those who have given money to the charity that runs the service might do well to think again about putting their hands into their pockets to assist again. It’s hard to see why people should pay for a service that now has snubbed their previous efforts. And you can’t blame them, can you?