Flying doctors scheme will transport NHS medics by helicopter to emergencies across Wales

Medics who are part of a new "military style" rapid response team in Wales will be able to take blood to casualties in what is a world first.

The multi-agency Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS) Cymru will launch next month and bring some of medical skills usually used on the battlefield to civilian life.

State-of-the-art Welsh Government-funded vehicles for EMRTS (Cymru). Credit: Ben Birchall/PA Wire

The EMRTS will bring together a new flying doctors service, A&E specialists from the NHS and critical care experts such as advanced nurses and paramedics.

Officials say the team will be able to deal with a wide raft of life-or-death situations including mass casualty events.

Wales' Deputy Minister for Health, Vaughan Gething, said it "will be one of, if not the most, comprehensively equipped pre-hospital teams in the world".