WAA flight incubator used for the first time
Wales Air Ambulance used its new neonatal unit to transport a prematurely born child from Glan Clwyd Hospital in North Wales back home to Carmarthenshire.
Wales Air Ambulance (WAA) used its new neonatal unit to transport a prematurely born child from Glan Clwyd Hospital in North Wales back home to Carmarthenshire.
The unit has only recently been brought into service on the HEMS charity’s new EC135 T2e helicopter. The baby, named Noah Griffiths, was born 13 weeks prematurely and was recently deemed well enough to travel home. The distance would have taken four hours by car.
A team consisting of Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS Cymru) medic Jason Hughes, Glan Clwyd neonatal consultant Dr Tarek El-Aalem and advanced neonatal nurse practitioner Rhian Smith all accompanied baby Noah to his destination.
“It was a great honour to be a part of the first transfer in the new aircraft,” Smith said of the mission. “We had training with the Wales Air Ambulance and EMRTS Cymru team the week before to familiarise ourselves with the equipment. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but on the way down, I had Noah to focus on. On the way home though, I could appreciate from the air just how amazingly beautiful Wales is.”
WAA reported that Noah’s condition continued to improve. The neonatal transfer unit was custom made for WAA in Switzerland. It cost the charity £70,000 and is the most advanced flight incubator in the UK, said the service.
Watch our report on the new equipment below: