MP Steve Witherden called for a ‘change in the narrative’ to rural healthcare at the inaugural parliamentary meeting for Air Ambulances.

The Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr MP said in the meeting that a national change in conversation around rural healthcare was needed to better support air ambulance services across the UK.

Witherden chaired the first meeting at the relaunched All Party Parliamentary Group on Air Ambulances (APPGAA) on 4 March.

The new MP who was voted into office in the recent July elections was then confirmed as an officer for the APPGAA alongside Baroness Foster and Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP.

Witherden said: “As we await the outcome of the judicial review into the closure of the Welshpool base, this group will continue to make the policy case for properly supporting these lifesaving services at a UK-wide level.

“As myself and many others have said time and again, living in a rural area should not preclude you from access to timely healthcare.

“While everyone in Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr is hoping for a positive ruling, we must try and change the national conversation around rural healthcare more widely.

“I intend for this group to do just that.

“We should not have consistently worse local provision just because the services we rely on are easy pickings for savings.

“For us in Mid Wales, the air ambulance is literally a lifeline and I will not stop working to push it up the agenda with colleagues across both governments.”

The APPGAA advocates for air ambulance services in parliament, this month working on plans to present evidence to parliament on the returns investments in air ambulances have made.

The judicial review hearing into the Welshpool and Caernarfon air ambulance closures took place in January, with campaign groups currently awaiting a verdict from the judge.