Powys demands urgent action on rapid response vehicles

A Powys county councillor has welcomed a unanimous council vote calling for urgent action to ensure Mid Wales receives the promised rapid response vehicles (RRVs) before the closure of the Welshpool Air Ambulance base.

Cllr Graham Breeze, who represents Welshpool’s Llanerchyddol ward, brought the motion alongside Cllr Elwyn Vaughan of Glantwymyn. It follows last month’s Judicial Review outcome, which allowed the base closure to proceed on the condition that additional emergency response provision would be put in place.

The motion, supported by all councillors, calls on Welsh health boards and Wales Air Ambulance to “fully implement” the commitment to deploy RRVs across Mid Wales as a replacement for some of the emergency cover previously provided by the aircraft.

Cllr Breeze said the decision was vital for residents across North Powys, including Newtown and surrounding communities.

“I am delighted that the motion received unanimous support,” he said. “We all know the decision to close the Welshpool air ambulance base was a bitter blow for rural Wales. But as councillors we had a responsibility to ensure the promises made to mitigate that decision are delivered because Powys lives depend on it.”

He said the RRVs were *not* an optional extra but “a condition integral to the judicial review that allowed the closures to proceed,” adding that without them “rural communities will be left dangerously exposed”.

Powys’ lack of a district general hospital means emergency response times are critical, he said.

“When a cardiac arrest or major trauma occurs minutes matter. The air ambulance was our lifeline. Now, the only way to maintain equity in emergency care is to ensure these RRVs – fully equipped with critical care capability – are deployed quickly and strategically.”

Cllr Breeze highlighted Wales Air Ambulance’s own figures, which showed the service was previously unable to reach 922 patients a year, and argued the planned reorganisation would simply shift unmet need towards Mid Wales unless the promised vehicles are delivered.

“The reality is that those missed calls will be here in Powys,” he said. “The proposal simply switches the unmet need from North East Wales to Mid Wales. And without the rapid response vehicles the number of missed patients here in Powys will grow even further.”

He added that Mid Wales too often feels overlooked.

“Like lots of other things affecting Mid Wales, we don’t seem to matter. So it’s our duty as councillors to make it clear, Mid Wales lives do matter.”