THE Duke of York will be dropping in on staff at the Yorkshire Air Ambulance today.

Prince Andrew is set to visit Leeds-Bradford Airport and officially open the new computerised control room which has enabled the Air Ambulance team to improve response times across the region.

With its introduction last October, staff in the Air Ambulance control room are now linked directly with each of Yorkshire's three ambulance control rooms.

The change has seen activation times for the helicopter cut from seven to two minutes, meaning the crew are often the first on the scene of any incident.

Martin Eede, Chief Executive of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance charity said: "We are absolutely thrilled the Duke of York has accepted our invitation to open the new air desk which has enabled us to improve deployment of the helicopter.

"By using new technology to link the control rooms of Yorkshire's three ambulance services, we can instantly see all 999 calls made across the county.

"Since the facility was introduced in October last year, there have been major improvements in the speed of dispatch, meaning we are now frequently first on scene."

During his visit the Prince will meet a number of former patients whose lives have been saved by the quick reaction time of the Air Ambulance.