Campaign to Save Welshpool’s Wales Air Ambulance Base
Updated: March 2025
The proposed closure of Air Ambulance Bases was challenged at a Court Hearing over a three-day Judicial Review at Cardiff Crown Court during January and February.
I believe that the decision taken by the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee (JCC) last year, to permanently close and centralise the Welshpool and Caernarfon Air Ambulance bases, was fundamentally wrong. The campaign group that I am part of has been working to challenge this decision. As campaigners we have argued that the reconfiguration will lead to slower response times for critical care in rural areas.
We in Mid Wales rely on the service of the Wales Air Ambulance to attend and treat people at a scene, and to ensure people are transferred to receive further critical care treatment in a timely manner. The Air Ambulance is a lifeline for rural Wales, and the closure of the Welshpool base would be a devastating blow.
Following an application for Judicial Review that was issued at the High Court last year, a hearing took place on 22nd and 23rd of January and concluded on 7th February.
The legal team challenged the lawfulness of the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee’s decision to adopt recommendations which would see changes to the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service, including the permanent closure of Air Ambulance bases in Welshpool. The JCC is a Commissioning Committee made up of the seven Health Boards across Wales who act collectively to facilitate and manage the healthcare system.
As part of its decision the JCC also recommended implementing a ‘special emergency road service’ using Rapid Response Vehicles (RRVs) as an alternative. Not only would this option be deeply unsatisfactory and inadequate for a rural area like Montgomeryshire, but there is also no detail on how it would operate or be funded. The JCC’s proposal is both impractical and poorly conceived. One extreme weather event or road closure could severely impact the ability of RRVs to reach patients in need of urgent critical treatment, and this could have catastrophic consequences. Despite the JCC’s agreement to deliver a detailed implementation plan by the end of September 2024, little information has yet been published.
The hearing offered an opportunity to scrutinise the decision. We now wait for the Judge to consider the vast amount of information which was presented by both sides at the Judicial Review hearing before he announces his decision. The legal team that that we have been working with argued that the JCC’s decision lacked transparency, failed to consider the unique needs of rural communities, and challenged the process that led to the decision. I would like to register my thanks for the extremely professional way that our claim was presented by Ms Joanne Clements KC and colleagues at Watkins & Gunn, and to thank the many thousands of people who have offered their support during the campaign.
I believe that the proposals to the close the Air Ambulance’s base in Welshpool were based on flawed information, and that the process has been filled with bias, misinformation and misdirection.
It is of course not possible to say if the legal challenge will be successful. Based on the evidence, research and the work of the campaign team - and working alongside the legal team presenting the case - there is good reason to feel positive about the outcome of the challenge.
I have continued to raise this issue in the Senedd as I firmly believe the Welsh Government, who are ultimately responsible, should intervene and call the proposals in for a decision by Welsh Government Ministers.
We now wait for the Judge to make a determination.