Wales Air Ambulance to fly around the clock

The charity is now providing a service throughout the night

Wales Air Ambulance has started providing a service around the clock for the first time.

The charity has introduced a new double-pilot crew so it can get anywhere across Wales overnight.

The decision to expand the service followed research showing it could have been deployed to nearly 1,000 more emergency calls over the past year.

However the charity will now need to raise an additional £1.5m in donations every year to meet the extra costs.

"In 2021, the charity will mark 20 years of service and what better way to acknowledge that milestone than the introduction of a 24/7 air ambulance operation," said the chairman of Wales Air Ambulance, David Gilbert.

"This has been two decades in the making and we would not be here without the people of Wales and their incredible generosity, as well as our staff and volunteers."

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It means the charity will have to find £8m a year to run the expanded services, with pilots, paramedics and doctors working out of four airbases across Wales, in Cardiff, Caernarfon, Llanelli and Welshpool.

The service effectively brings an emergency medical room to the patient, with critical trauma care not normally available outside of hospital, including surgical procedures, blood transfusions and emergency anaesthesia.

The medical teams are provided through a partnership between the charity, Welsh Government and NHS Wales.

"The introduction of the overnight helicopter will provide emergency air cover to more people who have a clinical need for immediate treatment across Wales," said Health Minister Vaughan Gething.

"The work of the charity and its hardworking staff and volunteers has helped Wales to lead the way in best practice, clinical excellence and innovation and contributed to the charity becoming the largest air ambulance operation in the UK."

Since the service began in 2001, it has carried out more than 37,000 missions, and each year its specialist children's service airlifts about 400 children with life-threatening emergencies or to children's hospitals across the UK.