Wales Air Ambulance to close helicopter bases in Caernarfon and Welshpool

Health boards have given the green light to close two Wales Air Ambulance bases after 2026. The Welsh NHS ' Joint Commissioning Committee voted that the Welshpool and Caernarfon bases will shut.

The sites will be merged into a new site in North Wales - with a site identified around the Rhuddlan area. But more details will need to be provided about two potential Rapid Response vehicles (RRV) being put in the north west of Wales and potentially western Powys.

A review conducted by the Chief Ambulance Services Commissioner for Wales Stephen Harrhy had recommended consolidating services into one North Wales base.

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It said a base would be a location south of Rhyl/Rhuddlan which the report identified as the most effective area "showing significant increases in incident coverage". The charity has said this would "ensure as many people as possible" benefit and allow it to respond to 139 extra calls a year. For North Wales the changes would mean a post 8pm night service for 530,000 people or 75% of the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board population.

In a joint statement Plaid politicians Liz Saville Roberts MP, Mabon ap Gwynfor MS, Hywel Williams MP, Sian Gwenllian MS, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS said: "Today’s decision to rubber-stamp the closure of the Caernarfon and Welshpool Air Ambulance bases in favour of centralising the service in northeast Wales goes against the interests of communities across northwest and mid Wales.'

"We have far from been assured that the areas most at risk from these plans such as Pen Llŷn, south Meirionnydd, Ynys Môn, and mid Wales won’t be left with a slow-track and substandard service.

"Considering some of the questions about the data being used as a basis for the proposal, it is not unreasonable for people to have serious concerns that we will have a significantly inferior service if the Caernarfon and Welshpool sites are closed."

Gwynedd Councillor, Llio Elenid Owen who represents the Groeslon ward which includes Dinas Dinlle Air Ambulance base said: "The news today regarding the closure of Dinas Dinlle, Caernarfon’s Wales Air Ambulance service is bitterly disappointing and heart wrenching. The whole community has worked tirelessly to convey the importance of this crucial service in my Ward which serves the whole of Gwynedd.

"We will lose a valuable resource, jobs and expertise from the area. Today is a tragic day for this community, for the surrounding area and for Gwynedd."

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