Emergency Services

Our Emergency Services include the provision of emergency medical advice to callers from all over the State (see Telehealth) to the emergency evacuation of patients using our fixed wing aircraft or occasionally rotary wing, charter or road ambulances (see Medical Retrieval).  As part of our system we also operate a State-wide Clinical Coordination system to ensure that our emergency assets are allocated to patients according to clinical need and decisions regarding priority, crew mix, equipment required and destination are made by experienced transport doctors.

Approximately 40% of patients transferred across Western Australia by our fixed wing aircraft have a medical retrieval team on board, comprising an RFDS Retrieval Doctor and an RFDS Flight Nurse with critical care and midwifery skills.

Closer to Perth our Retrieval Doctors coordinate and staff the Perth Rescue Helicopter for interhospital transfers, in conjunction with a critical care paramedic.

In remote settings we may need to use a variety of chartered aircraft, helicopters, road vehicles and even seaplanes, to evacuate patients from isolated settings.  Out of Perth, we conduct a small number of road retrievals and also use charter corporate jets for longer distance transfers from the Indian Ocean Territories.

Follow the links to the left to find out more about our Emergency Services and how to organize a flight.

 

Last Updated: 11/06/2008