Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:57 pm on 11 January 2023.
I acknowledge that the air ambulance has pledged that this rapid response that it offers will continue in any process of centralisation, and I certainly welcome that commitment. However, like others, I am particularly concerned about the impact that any such centralisation could have on the effectiveness, as Mabon mentioned earlier, of the rapid response vehicle service provided by the charity. We have seen in Welshpool, and in other areas, that these road response services have been vital when the helicopter has been unable to fly because, perhaps, of poor weather. Indeed, in 2021, of the 3,544 response journeys made by the air ambulance across Wales, almost half—47 per cent—were attended by a rapid response vehicle.