From Caernarfon to Carmarthen and across Ceredigion and Powys, there are growing concerns over future plans for the Welsh Air Ambulance Service.

A series of public meetings are underway as concerned residents and local politicians line up to express frustration that the reorganisation will result in poorer quality service delivery to swathes of rural Wales — the area of the country that needs its fast response most.

Under the proposed plans, air ambulance bases in Powys and Gwynedd will close, with a single new home in Denbighshire covering the wider area. Now, Wales currently has four bases — in Welshpool, Caernarfon, Llanelli and Cardiff —but the suggested reorganisation would see the bases in Welshpool and Caernarfon replaced by a former North Wales Police helicopter base in Rhuddlan, Denbighshire. 

This is a highly emotive proposal by the Welsh NHS Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS) and the Wales Air Ambulance Charity — and while the plans might look good on paper, for those on the ground across this region who have to place their lives in the hands of those backing the reconfiguration, there is little confidence. It seems like blue sky thinking.

The service says closing the bases in Welshpool and Caernarfon will allow the services to be consolidated in a new “central North Wales location close to the A55 (Denbighshire or Conwy)”. 

That in itself does little to ease our concerns here. All too often, mid Wales is forgotten, an administrative wasteland where services are depleted, underfunded, forgotten and left to fester. And yes, too much of our nation’s resources are focused on that A55 corridor, the M4 too. There is more to Wales than Conwy and Cardiff.

The charity says the changes would allow it to meet 72 per cent of current demand to 88 per cent of future demand.

But this reorganisation shouldn’t be about targets alone.

For too long, this region has been stripped of vital public services, whether that be transport links, decent roads, good buses, reliable trains, adequate A&E support, access to GPs, NHS dentists, or reasonable waiting times for treatment.

So why does it feel like mid Wales is getting screwed again? And yes, we know that feeling only all too well.