It has been announced that the Welsh Ambulance Service will receive 84 new operational vehicles thanks to a £10.9 million investment from the Welsh Government.

Vaughan Gething, the Welsh Minister for Health and Social Services, also announced that a further £1.6 million in funding is being allocated to the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS) to expand the service into a 24/7 operation and establish the Critical Care Transfer Service. This is additional money following the £1.7 million already given to the service and will help support the national transfer of critically ill adults across Wales.

The funding will be used to fund three specialist critical care ambulances and will see investment in equipment to support the expansion of the EMRTS service.

Gething said: “The Welsh Ambulance Service has experienced a huge surge in demand on its services due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The funding announced today will allow the service to upgrade its existing fleet, allowing the service to deliver the best care for people in Wales. I’m also pleased to announce further funding which will establish a new Critical Care Transfer Service and see the expansion of EMRTS to a 24/7 operation, in partnership with the Wales Air Ambulance Charity.”