NINE more full-time doctors will be appointed for aeromedical retrievals by RACQ LifeFlight, the chopper service that gets plenty of work from the Scenic Rim.
LifeFlight was involved in a rescue at Mount Barney two weeks ago when a 70-year-old man broke a leg abseiling.
LifeFlight doctors handled 5452 medical tasks across the state last financial year.
The extra doctors will come via a new $235 million Queensland government contract that will see LifeFlight provide critical care doctors on more aeromedical retrieval flights.
Health Minister Steven Miles said it would mean doctors on duty over a greater spread of hours.
“The new contract will effectively increase the number of rostered clinical hours from 87,600 to 105,120 annually – meaning more doctors to fill those hours,” he said.
“...Our highly trained critical care doctors not only fly on our own RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter service, but on all other services across the emergency helicopter network and on some Royal Flying Doctor Services – from Cooktown to Coolangatta," said LifeFlight CEO Ashley van de Velde.”
Mr Miles said that at any hour of the day or night, there were at least three LifeFlight doctors in the air somewhere, caring for patients.
LifeFlight chief executive Ashley van de Velde said the vastness of Queensland meant the average medical task was five hours, creating the potential for doctors to become fatigued due to work-load or length of shift.
The 2017-2018 financial year was a record year for LifeFlight, with its aeromedical crews, community helicopters and air ambulance jets performing a record number of missions.
The 70-year-old rescued from Mount Barney two weeks ago was taken out by a Sunshine Coast-based chopper crew.
LifeFlight emergency doctor Joakim Johansson was with the rescue crew and said they had just competed a rescue from North Stradbroke Island when the call came through.
“We were already in the area, so after rearranging the helicopter for a winch operation, we were in the air within 10 or 12 minutes and at Mount Barney within half an hour,” he said.
Dr Johansson said the mission was complicated from a logistical viewpoint because of heavy scrub impeding chopper access.
“The pilot had to hover at some altitude, which complicates things further as the winch wire tends to swing and turn the higher you are.
Mr Miles said LifeFlight Retrieval Medicine won the upgraded contract after a tender process
“Over 96 per cent of the work LifeFlight does is providing aeromedical services to people in need, so they are a good fit for this contract,” Mr Miles said.
The new service model would ensure no medical officer worked shifts longer than 14 hours, a problem with the previous set up.
