The CareFlight Story
Dear Sir/Madam In April I suffered a massive heart attack at Lithgow Hospital. After what I have been told was magnificent work by the Lithgow team, I was transferred to Westmead hospital by CareFlight. I am fully aware I was not expected to survive this trip, but due to the professionalism of your team I can now write this letter of gratitude. My survival can be attributed to many factors (including doctors and nurses at Lithgow and Westmead) but without CareFlight I would now be dead, to put it simply. I cannot thank you enough for saving my life. — Robert
Twenty one years ago a group of doctors had a shared vision: to create a better medical retrieval service in New South Wales. They believed that very sick patients who need to be moved between hospitals, and severely injured patients who need to be treated at the accident scene, should be attended by critical care specialists who can perform 'physician only' procedures. From this vision, CareFlight was born.
A base was established in the grounds of Westmead Hospital and a helicopter was commissioned. Initially, with only one doctor on duty each day, CareFlight flew to some four patients each month. Over the years the organisation has evolved and now we have six doctors on rostered duty every day of the year. Our doctors cover shifts at Bankstown and Orange on NSW Ambulance Service helicopters, road ambulances and fixed wing air ambulances, a shift at Westmead on the NRMA Careflight helicopters and a shift in our international operation.
Underpinning our medical service is a long term contract with the Ambulance Service of NSW to provide CareFlight doctors to the medical retrieval system. We supply half the retrieval doctors in the Greater Sydney area and all the retrieval doctors in the Central West.
NRMA CareFlight has a strong focus on teaching and medical research. We train trauma specialists and senior registrars in critical care in the transport and pre-hospital environment, and hold teaching accreditation with the Critical Care Colleges. NRMA CareFlight has played a major role in the evolution of critical care transport in Australia, having been a leader in research and development of both systems and equipment employed in retrieval medicine.
Out of this research has emerged NRMA CareFlight's Head Injury Retrieval Trial (HIRT), a major clinical trial to evaluate the impact of advanced pre-hospital medical interventions in the treatment of severe head injury. The trial is being funded by NRMA Insurance, with the Motor Accidents Authority recently committing additional funding to expand the project in terms of geography and operating hours.
We are planning to expand our medical research and education programs and are currently in the process of developing a rural trauma education program which will benefit all of New South Wales.
