helicopters could face the chop - ABC Online

Posted January 03, 2013 08:16:19

A leading emergency response team says the lives of country patients could be jeopardised if rescue helicopters in New South Wales are reduced.

An independent review of helicopter rescue services commissioned by the New South Wales Government has made 56 recommendations.

One of the recommendations is to reduce the number of rescue helicopters in from 15 to 12.

The review has also recommended that winch operations should be ended at Wollongong and Tamworth, with future operations restricted to four bases in Sydney, Canberra, Newcastle and Lismore.

Ian Badham from the Careflight Rescue Helicopter Service says the move could impact on response times for country patients.

"Concentrating services in Sydney rather than moving them further up where the patients really are could reduce response times," he said.

"That could adversely impact on trauma patients at the roadside and very ill patients in rural hospitals."

But Ken Wheelan from NSW Health says, as he understands it, the same number of helicopters will still be flying.

"Any reduction will be based on the fact there will be less helicopters out of the air on maintenance," he said.

The community has two months to respond to the proposal.

Topics: state-parliament, nsw