First Minister gives Wales’ ‘Flying doctors’ official clearance for take-off

Wales’ new ‘flying doctors’ have been officially cleared for take-off after being launched by the First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones.

The Welsh Government-funded EMRTS (Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service) Cymru sees consultants join critical care practitioners on Wales Air Ambulance missions for the first time.

The teams are able to reach 95% of the population by air and 46% by road within 30 minutes.

Having been operational since the end of April, the ‘flying doctors’ have already completed more than 100 missions on board Wales Air Ambulance’s helicopters.

To date, the team have carried out six blood transfusions and administered more than 20 emergency anaesthetics. More than half of the calls the EMRTS team have responded to have been trauma incidents.

As well as deploying doctors on the air ambulance’s fleet of helicopters, EMRTS Cymru has also introduced new technology and equipment pioneered by the armed forces and developments which are a first for helicopter emergency medical service operations in the UK.

Upgraded services include new equipment usually only seen in hospitals; new 4×4 emergency response vehicles and an increased range of treatments for seriously-ill and injured people across Wales.

The launch of EMRTS Cymru means Wales Air Ambulance has become one of the first civilian services of its kind in Europe to carry three separate blood products, allowing the critical care team to carry out blood transfusions at the scene of an emergency. It has also introduced state-of-the-art monitors, ventilators, blood monitoring apparatus and ultrasound scanners.

EMRTS Cymru has been developed in partnership between the Welsh Government, the Wales Air Ambulance charity, NHS Wales, the Welsh Blood Service, and the Welsh Ambulance Service.

The Welsh Government is providing £2.868m from 2015-16 to support EMRTS Cymru’s critical care team.  The Wales Air Ambulance continues to rely on charitable donations to raise the £6m required each year to keep the air ambulances flying.

The First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, said:

“The official launch of EMRTS Cymru today marks a major milestone for the NHS in Wales. The new doctor-led critical care teams will transform our ability to provide the very best care to the most critically-ill patients in Wales.

“They provide patients 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 and specialist critical care.”

One of the first people to benefit from the care provided by the flying doctors was 37-year-old Simon James, who suffered a heart attack on the pitch while playing rugby for Brynamman RFC on April 5.

After receiving emergency treatment from spectators, team mates and a first responder, the dad-of-two was treated by the air ambulance team, including Dr Dindi Gill. He was rushed to hospital, where he spent more than a week in a critical condition.

He is now on the road to recovery thanks to the treatment he received from the EMRTS Cymru team.

Mr James said:

“With me, a lot of people had a part to play, and if one of them hadn’t been there, the outcome could have been very different. There’s a good chance I wouldn’t be here.

“The flying doctor service will help save lives – no question about it.

“I’m a truck driver and see incidents up and down the M4. The new service means there will be no wait to get casualties to hospital for a doctor to see them – the doctor can be right there on the scene.

“It could mean the different between life and death.”

Dr Dindi Gill, of EMRTS Cymru, said:

“This is an excellent example of the chain of survival – having a doctor of the scene is part of that chain. We’re able to offer an enhanced level of care, which improves the chances of a patient recovering better from a neurological point of view and also make sure they get timely access to specialist care.

“In Simon’s case, I was able to administer a powerful anaesthetic, and insert a tube into his windpipe to improve his breathing and oxygen levels. I was also able to give him adrenaline to support his blood pressure, and sedate him for transfer to hospital.

“Once at the hospital he was able to bypass the emergency department and go straight to the specialist cardio unit where he had access to angioplasty to clear the blocked artery, which had caused his heart attack.

“All this helped to improve his chances of survival and recovery.”

Angela Hughes, chief executive of Wales Air Ambulance, said:

“Securing consultants on board our aircraft is another significant step towards our aim of providing the most advanced air ambulance service in the world.

“Providing a world-class emergency care service is of great importance to the people of Wales, particularly given the number of rural communities we have. These developments will save the lives of many people in urgent need of assistance.

“We have received incredible support from our fundraisers since first launching in 2001, and continue to rely entirely on charitable donations to raise more than £6m each year to keep Wales’ helicopters flying.”

Dr Rhys Thomas, co-director of EMRTS Cymru, said:

“We had a fantastic response to the recruitment process for the programme and have put together a team of extremely talented clinicians from across Wales and beyond.

“All members of the team have performed fantastically in completing their training ahead of flying on the helicopters, and are already making a significant contribution on call-outs across Wales.

“Their skills, combined with the new equipment we have on board, form a critical care team that Wales can take great pride in.”