Rescue needed ? - Sorry about the wait !

The prime purpose of a helicopter medical rescue service is to get doctors to a patient quickly, give immediate trauma relief - and get that person to hospital with the minimum delay.

After years of procrastination, various levels of service and several providers a Wollongong based 24/7 rescue helicopter is due to commence service this Monday.

There is only one problem. The helicopter will be based at Albion Park airport - and the crew will be based at Dapto ambulance station - a full fifteen minutes drive from one another.

This seems to be the usual lack of liaison between all the people involved. The Canadian Helicopter Company ( CHC ) insists that this will delay rescue times by at least fifteen minutes. It wants it's crews housed at the airport in demountable accommodation.

That's where a serious issue descends into farce. The NSW Ambulance service is responsible for the rescue helicopters in this state - and they have long been Sydney-centric. They have opposed choppers based in Newcastle to the north and Wollongong in the south in preference to basing several machines in Sydney - despite the operational delay this would cause.

It seems that they have not even bothered to lodge a development application ( DA ) with Shellharbour council for the demountable accommodation at the airport - and the council has commented that when that happens the approval process could take weeks or months - and maybe as much as a year.

IN the meantime, the state government is sitting on it's hands and letting this happen. CHC is threatening to delay service until the issue is resolved - and once again ego's and empire building are taking precedence over the saving of lives.

If ever there was a case where a government should intervene, bang a few heads and kick a few butts it is this ! It has the power to over-rule the Ambulance service and declare emergency approval of that temporary accommodation.

The blame will be accurately laid at this government's door if someone bleeds to death in a car accident or dies of a heart attack or stroke simply because the rescue chopper faced a fifteen minute delay while the crew drove from the office to the airport.