Investments in pre-hospital ambulance and retrieval medicine care

Adequate numbers of staff to coordinate responses in the Ambulance Tasmania State Operations
Centre, improved ambulance infrastructure and more frontline staff will improve outcomes for our
patients around the state by getting them to the right place at the right time.

Critical treatments including neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, paediatric and neonatal intensive care
are only available at the Royal Hobart Hospital. We need to improve our system for accessing this
care when needed, to save lives and to prevent serious disabilities.

Adding a specially trained and equipped team of paramedics and doctors to Tasmania’s helicopter
service is essential to achieve the best outcomes for seriously ill and injured Tasmanians.
Based with the rescue helicopters at Hobart airport, a team can be airborne within minutes to
deploy anywhere in the state, delivering the highest level of resuscitation care directly to the scene
of an incident. With advanced skills to stabilise and start essential treatments, a helicopter team can
deliver patients either to the nearest major hospital or directly to the Royal Hobart Hospital if
required. This will shave hours off the time it takes to reach life- and limb-saving ‘definitive care’.

A Hobart location for this service will provide the critical mass of highly experienced medical
specialists and other staff needed to support a Pre-Hospital and Retrieval Medicine (PH&RM)
service.

This location also means that specialised services available only in Hobart (Neonatal and Paediatric
Intensive Care) can be mobilised rapidly to support hospitals around the state.

Such an investment will be for all Tasmanians, and will bring our prehospital and retrieval care up to
the standard provided for many years across the rest of Australia and New Zealand.

ENDS
Media contact: Dr Domhnall Brannigan 0409 966 411 or Tony Steven CEO 0409 219 368 or
Nadine Cove, AMA Tasmania 03 6223 2047.