Project Overview
The Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transport Service (EMRTS) Cymru provides rapid help by specialist doctors transported by helicopters and ambulances for seriously injured and ill people across Wales.
It aims to improve the survival of seriously injured or very ill people, including those suffering cardiac arrest. The service started in April 2015 and reaches an estimated 300 people every year. In some parts of the world, but not everywhere, similar services have led to improved survival.
Our evaluation will bring together complex data on patients treated by the service over five years of service and will compare outcomes with a group of similar people before the service was introduced or when it is not operational, such as at night or during bad weather when the helicopters cannot fly.
The evaluation will compare outcomes including survival, quality of life and functional abilities (the ability to care for oneself), changes in length of hospital stay, changes in healthcare use in groups receiving or not receiving the service. The project will help inform the further development and improvement of the service.
