Rapid response to the rescue

CHANGES to the state’s search and rescue helicopter service mean faster response times with more services available, Health Minister Michael Ferguson says.

Mr Ferguson met members of the flight paramedic crew at their new Hobart Airport base on Sunday. He said the new service — which was now fully operational after the first changes were made a year ago — meant the rescue helicopter could be in the air within 10 minutes of a call-out, down from the previous average of 52 minutes.

The Government was spending an extra $10 million a year on the improved service.

“The most notable change is that we’ve got a crew at the airport ready to go,” Dr Paul Scott, an emergency doctor who is part of the crew, said.

He said the helicopter could respond to road crashes, farm accidents and rescues as well as supporting rural and regional health facilities.

“Before this injection of funding we were very much ad hoc in our response, we relied on pulling ambulance crews from the road response units in the Southern region.

Mr Ferguson said more time would be saved when the Royal Hobart Hospital’s helipad was completed.

The Launceston General Hospital and North-West Regional Hospital in Burnie already have helipads, and the Mersey Community Hospital’s helipad was “in the final stages” of construction.