A HELIPAD is to be built outside Chorley Hospital's casualty department for a new air ambulance service in Lancashire.

It has been spearheaded by Lancashire Ambulance Service and the North West will get its first paramedic-crew ambulance by the beginning of May after the service is launched nationally in mid-April.

It is hoped the new scheme will help people living in the area's remote villages.

The hospital's current site for larger helicopters is on Lancashire Fire and Rescue's fire training centre at Washington Hall, Euxton, near Chorley.

A spokesperson for the hospital said: "The service could be in operation by the beginning of May and its primary use will be to transfer intensive care patients in and out of the county."

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