OXFORDSHIRE’S air ambulance is moving to a new training facility today as part of major expansion plans.

Thames Valley Air Ambulance will leave their old offices at RAF Benson to move across the border to Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire.

The charity's operational base, however, will remain at RAF Benson.

The new facility, based at Stokenchurch House, will include a high tech simulation suite for crews.

It will allow them to role play real life scenarios, with a fully immersive training room able to have everything from a roadside to a nightclub projected on to the walls and ceiling.

Lighting, sounds and temperature can also be altered to better recreate conditions faced on call outs.

Chief executive Amanda McLean said: "Our new office premises will give us the space to train and educate our crews, allowing for a fully immersive simulation suite where they will be able to learn and practice in variety of replicated environments.

"The new facility will provide a more appropriate space for the crucial support functions that enables us to operate our frontline service”.

TVAA medical director Dr Syed Masud added: "We are delighted to have reached this point and we are confident that we will continue to enhance our critical service to meet the need of the patients and public that we serve”.

The charity will also be expanding its fleet of Emergency Response Vehicles (ERV), reviewing hours of operation and looking at the model of aircraft it uses.

The move is part of plans for the charity to register with health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CGC) and become an independent medical organisation for the first time.

In November, the charity announced that instead of ‘hiring’ NHS paramedics and doctors to fly in its helicopter, it would in the future employ its own medics.

At the time TVAA spokeswoman Sarah Williamson said: “At its heart, these changes are about providing the best possible care for patients: that is what we are here to do.

“It means will be able to stand on our own two feet to provider a bigger, better service.”

The new model is set to cost the charity, which relies entirely on donations, approximately £2m more than its current £5m annual spend.