Specialist doctor service to now reach north Wales
Wales Air Ambulance recently launched its third specialist doctor service, meaning that North Wales will now receive the service.
Wales Air Ambulance (WAA) recently launched its third specialist doctor service, meaning that North Wales will now receive the service. Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service Cymru has been available in South and Mid Wales since 2015, but this will be the first time the service will be extended to the north. The project is supported by a partnership created between WAA, the Welsh Government and NHS Wales.
WAA previously had specialist flying doctors based at Dafen in Carmarthenshire and in Welshpool, Powys. These specialists help the service to increase the care it can give to patients, so patients can now be given blood transfusions, anaesthetics and strong painkillers before reaching hospital. The doctors are also able to perform a range of medical procedures not normally performed outside a hospital, according to the service.
According to WAA, the ‘Welsh Flying Medics’ programme has already seen a positive impact on critical care in Wales. An independent evaluation by the Farr Institute at Swansea University found that the service has shortened the time it takes for somebody who is critically ill to receive. consultant-led treatment, and that more people in Wales now have equal access to timely consultant-led treatment during an emergency incident. It has also improved the time it takes for certain patients to be taken for a CT scan or emergency surgery, and supported the development of skills and knowledge in critical and emergency care for NHS Wales employees.
Health secretary Vaughan Gething, who launched the new part of the service, said: “I welcome this initiative that will enhance the existing service from Caernarfon and bring it in line with the rest of the EMRTS cover enjoyed elsewhere. It will bring access to critical care and emergency medicine much closer for people living in North Wales and ensure that they can get the best care more quickly.”