ST GEORGE Hospital sees about 1870 trauma patients each year and they do not all come by road ambulance.
In the past 12 months, 69 patients were transported by helicopter, either from a regional or rural hospital, or from the scene of an emergency.
About 1475 patients came by road ambulance, including rural patients transported first to Sydney by fixed-wing aircraft.
Patients flown by helicopter came from as far as Coonabarabran, Cootamundra, Grafton and Hay.
Most trauma patients were transported from the scene of an emergency; the most common causes of trauma were falls, motor vehicle accidents, pedestrian accidents and assaults.
The hospital receives patients from the NSW Ambulance adult medical retrieval service and CareFlight.
Helicopters are based at Sydney Airport, Westmead Hospital and Wollongong.
The flight to Wollongong and back is about 40 minutes, but it takes about 90 minutes to source a flight crew and prepare for an emergency flight.
The hospital's director of trauma Mary Langcake said the public was often unaware of how busy the hospital was behind closed doors.
"In trauma, it can be a challenge because it can happen in such a random fashion that you may be having what you think is a relatively steady day and then you get a trauma come in and it puts a lot of pressure on the emergency department," Dr Langcake said.
The hospital has one of the busiest level 1 trauma and intensive care units in the state.
The emergency department sees more than 45,000 patients each year.
"A trauma call requires a large response from my team, the ED, anaesthetics and radiology to really focus on what that patient needs," Dr Langcake said.
"And that's why we have the campaign at the moment to try to make the pubic aware that for those sorts of things a GP can handle, they . . . should be going to GPs."
The hospital's helipad is located on top of the car park on the south-western side of the hospital.
ADDED CHALLENGES
St George Hospital wears the cost of the flight home for patients if they are being transferred directly to another hospital.
Dr Langcake said once a patient was well enough to leave intensive care, the challenge was finding them somewhere for convalescence and rehabilitation.
‘‘It creates problems because they’ll have care at a level 1 trauma centre, but then to make sure they get that ongoing care ...
‘‘The regional hospitals do a superb job, but they’re not kitted out the same way we are perhaps to provide rehabilitation ... and the availability of decent rehab beds in rural and regional areas are not available, particularly for brain-injured patients.
‘‘In a recent draft of the NSW Rural and Regional Policy ... one of the things I did say was there is a desperate need for facilities out in country areas to receive folk back, not just for trauma, but things like stroke as well.
‘‘There are no regional rehabilitation services around so we have to negotiate with perhaps the hospital that sent them [and ask] ‘Will they take them back?’, but that involves finding a consultant who’s happy to manage them and whether the hospital even has the beds.’’
Distance and the cost of travel also meant families in regional and rural areas found it challenging to be by their relative’s side in Sydney.
■ A helicopter that broke down on the hospital's rooftop last week has since been repaired and moved on.
Have you ever been transported to hospital by helicopter?