When people who live in rural areas have an accident or become sick they require speedy access to high level medical and hospital care. A retrieval service with specialised staff trained to work in this environment will advise, treat and transport these patients. This is an extremely important service to the rural community as many rural areas do not possess the resources to treat severely ill or injured patients and are reliant on a retrieval service to assist. The sooner a severely ill or injured patient receives medical attention, the better the outcome.
Although a small part of overall ACT Health activity The Canberra Hospital is contracted to provide the medical staff that comprise a part of the retrieval team who participate in the retrieval service for the ACT and surrounding NSW region. The ACT retrieval service, known locally as the Snowy Hydro SouthCare Helicopter, is part of a network of retrieval services in NSW. The Capital Region Retrieval Service at The Canberra Hospital coordinates the medical staff and works closely with the delegated operators of the service, the ACT Ambulance Service.
The ACT Health Critical Care Taskforce supported this project to review the existing medical component of the retrieval service and develop a best practice model for the future. A project leader was appointed in February 2008.
The original scope of the project was to review and cost the existing service, develop and cost a future model for medical services and negotiate ACT Health representation on the board of the ACT and SE NSW Aeromedical Service Ltd, by August 2008. These outcomes would then be used as a foundation for a new service agreement between ACT Health and the Emergency Services Agency. This scope was expanded at a later date due to issues relating to continuing human resource issues.
Email the Support Office or call (02) 8288 8700 for media and project enquiries.
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