A NEW system that allows air ambulance dispatchers to see immediately which calls are the most important was launched at the weekend.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance opened the UK's first integrated air desk on Saturday. It has combined calls into the three Yorkshire ambulance services.

Mick Lindley, operations manager for the air ambulance, said: "The work involved in integrating the three Yorkshire ambulance services has been very complex, but the results already justify that effort."

Martin Eede, Yorkshire Air Ambulance chief executive, said: "Over the two days this weekend when the air desk was fully operational we attended 11 incidents, but we now know that there were at least five more that we should have attended.

"These incidents were spread across the whole of Yorkshire.

"In one, we flew to Castle Bolton, near Leyburn, in North Yorkshire where a walker had collapsed in a remote and inaccessible location.

"Our paramedics worked with colleagues from Tee East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service and finally carried the patient to the land ambulance for transfer to hospital.

"The crew then flew immediately to a road traffic accident in Wakefield."