ANEURIN Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) unveils its brand-new hospital today, providing a state-of-the-art critical care centre for the people of Gwent.

And away from the wards and operating theatres, another boost to the health board is the Grange University Hospital's helipad – the first time a Gwent hospital will be directly accessible for Wales Air Ambulance patients.

Dr Tim Rogerson is one of several ABUHB doctors who also works with the air ambulance service, and he said the patients arriving at the new helipad would be "literally a trolley-push into resus", the resuscitation room in the Grange's accident and emergency department.

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This marks a significant improvement on current air ambulance arrangements in the Gwent region.

Previously, patients being airlifted to and from the Royal Gwent Hospital, in Newport, had to travel by road ambulance to Tredegar Park, the nearest helicopter landing site.

The journey was slightly easier at Abergavenny's Nevill Hall Hospital, but road ambulances still had to navigate fields and open a set of gates to access the hospital from the nearest landing zone.

Dr Rogerson and his colleagues have already tested out the Grange's helipad, running a week of simulations to practise transferring patients from helicopter to hospital bed.