Medical Retrieval

Overview

RFDS (Western Operations) provides a dedicated medical retrieval service covering 98% of Western Australia and extending from Rottnest Island to the Indian Ocean territories. Historically all but those mainland locations within approximately 150km of Perth access the service for medically supervised transport.

The service operates a statewide 1800 number which is accessible by any health service or member of the community outside the metropolitan area. It is currently not promoted within the extended metropolitan area.

Approximately 80% of evacuation requests are received from country hospitals with the remaining 20% being primary requests from locations without medical practitioners.

Over 6,000 patients are evacuated across Western Australia by air each year. Only stretcher cases and those requiring ongoing treatment in flight are accepted for interhospital transport. Primary evacuations may involve more undifferentiated cases as adequate pre-flight information is not always available. Primary evacuations are authorized by an RFDS doctor and directed to the nearest suitable hospital. RFDS retrieval doctors do not usually alter the chosen destinations of referred interhospital patients, unless they are inappropriate.

At present over 40% of transports are medical retrievals requiring a medical officer-flight nurse team. The balance are conducted by flight nurses alone, under medical direction, with written treatment orders and in-flight satellite telephone communication. For example, most of the 500+ emergency obstetric transports each are managed by flight nurses (all registered midwives) alone, with access to in-flight clinical advice.