New 24/7 helicopter landing sites for Wales’ new flying doctors service

Helicopter landing sites across Wales will be improved so they are available 24 hours a day in preparation for the launch of the country’s new “Flying Doctors” service – EMRTS Cymru – in April, Deputy Health Minister Vaughan Gething announced today (Monday 2 February 2015).

A number of hospitals in Wales have existing helicopter landing sites but only three currently support 24-hour-a-day landings – Ysbyty Gwynedd, in Bangor; Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, in Rhyl and Morriston Hospital, in Swansea.

The £180,000 investment announced today means helicopter landing sites, which have already been cleared for day landings, will become available for night landings. They will rely on rural volunteer or hospital response teams to deploy temporary landing lights and windsocks when alerted to the arrival of an aircraft.

The initial sites to be supported include:

• Bronglais Hospital, in Aberystwyth – Penglais School playing fields, Waunfawr, Aberystwyth;
• Withybush Hospital, in Haverfordwest – Haverfordwest Airport;
• Glangwili Hospital, in Carmarthen – existing offsite helipad;
• Singleton Hospital, in Swansea – field behind Singleton Fire station;
• Royal Gwent Hospital, in Newport – existing offsite helipad;
• Neville Hall Hospital, in Abergavenny – existing hospital helipad;
• Royal Glamorgan Hospital, in Llantrisant – existing hospital helipad;
• Prince Charles Hospital, in Merthyr Tydfil – existing hospital helipad;
• Wrexham Maelor Hospital – requires new helicopter landing site for night landings;
• Brecon site for Powys – Infantry Battle School, Dering Lines Ministry of Defence facility, Brecon.

A further 27 sites across Wales are being surveyed to provide rendezvous points for helicopters and ground vehicles.

The enhancement of helicopter landing sites will support EMRTS Cymru to conduct key clinical activities, including:

Pre-hospital critical care by using helicopter landing sites as rendezvous points for ambulance crews if aircraft cannot land near the scene of an incident because of geography, darkness or bad weather;

Transferring time critical, life or limb-threatening adult patients from referring hospitals (including emergency departments and minor injury units);

Support standalone midwife-led units by stabilising women and babies with life-threatening problems and transferring them to a consultant-led unit;

Transferring neonatal teams to time-critical cases.

Deputy Health Minister Vaughan Gething said:

“Our aim is for the most seriously-injured and sick patients in Wales to be treated by the very best clinicians, providing world-class, life-saving treatment. In the future, these highly-specialised services will be provided at fewer hospitals but they will be supported by a network of local hospitals, offering people access to local emergency care.

“The EMRTS Cymru service will transform our ability to provide the very best care to the most critically-ill patients in Wales. It will provide patients – especially those in remote and rural areas of Wales – with rapid access to the skills of a consultant in emergency or intensive care medicine, who are equipped to provide life-saving, specialist critical care.

“The enhancement of helicopter landing sites across Wales is an integral part of the work to ensure timely delivery of the EMRTS Cymru team and specialist equipment to those patients. It will allow EMRTS Cymru teams to access local hospitals and transfer patients to a major trauma centre.

“It is also an opportunity to support the vision of the Wales Air Ambulance charity to increase their operational activity and future 24/7 air capability.”