FLIGHT TRACKING, RETRIEVAL INFORMATION & CONTACT PAGE
IMPORTANT: This page is for use by Capital & Coast staff only
INTER-HOSPITAL TRANSFER CO-ORDINATION
- 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday: organised by the Flight Co-ordinator (Henny Nicholls)
- Outside these hours, weekends & public holidays: the Flight Nurse & ICU Specialist on-call
AVAILABILITY
An Intensive Care Flight Nurse & Registrar are available 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week (including public holidays).
Please note that despite clinician acceptance, no inter-hospital retrieval can be initiated without financial approval from the referring hospital. The flight co-ordinator will obtain authorisation whilst organising the retrieval.
HOSPITAL-SPECIFIC INFORMATION
Please select the primary hospital from the list below for details of retrieval times from Wellington & link to realtime aircraft tracking. A printable PDF summary can be downloaded below.
Primary Referring Hospitals
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First Call To Take OffTravel To DestinationUnload AircraftAmbulance From AirportAt HospitalAmbulance To AirportLoad AircraftTravel To WellingtonUnload AircraftAmbulance To HospitalTOTAL TIME
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First Call To Take OffTravel To DestinationUnload AircraftAmbulance From AirportAt HospitalAmbulance To AirportLoad AircraftTravel To WellingtonUnload AircraftAmbulance To HospitalTOTAL TIME
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First Call To Take OffTravel To DestinationUnload AircraftAmbulance From AirportAt HospitalAmbulance To AirportLoad AircraftTravel To WellingtonUnload AircraftAmbulance To HospitalTOTAL TIME
If extreme weather conditions prevent aeromedical retrieval, the ambulance road time from Wairarapa Hospital to Wellington is 90 minutes
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First Call To Take OffTravel To DestinationUnload AircraftAmbulance From AirportAt HospitalAmbulance To AirportLoad AircraftTravel To WellingtonUnload AircraftAmbulance To HospitalTOTAL TIME
If extreme weather conditions prevent aeromedical retrieval, the ambulance road time from Palmerston North Hospital to Wellington is 130 minutes
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First Call To Take OffTravel To DestinationUnload AircraftAmbulance From AirportAt HospitalAmbulance To AirportLoad AircraftTravel To WellingtonUnload AircraftAmbulance To HospitalTOTAL TIME
If extreme weather conditions prevent aeromedical retrieval, the ambulance road time from Wanganui Hospital to Wellington is 160 minutes
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First Call To Take OffTravel To DestinationUnload AircraftAmbulance From AirportAt HospitalAmbulance To AirportLoad AircraftTravel To WellingtonUnload AircraftAmbulance To HospitalTOTAL TIME
If extreme weather conditions prevent aeromedical retrieval, the ambulance road time from Taranaki Base Hospital to Wellington is 300 minutes
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- Hawke's Bay have their own transfer team (nurse & doctor) and are usually available 24/7 to bring patients to Wellington
- Hutt Hospital has no helipad so all retrievals must land at Avalon & travel 10 minutes by road ambulance. Road transfer times are 20 minutes but vary at times of peak traffic
- Kenepuru Hospital is 20 minutes away by road but this is also peak traffic dependent
- Greymouth retrievals often have to use Hokitika Airport which is 35 minutes by road from Grey Base Hospital
- The Chatham Islands Hospital is a 120 minute flight each way with a further 60 minute trip on unsealed roads to the hospital after landing. To minimise the latter component, this is the only hospital where stable patients are allowed a 'tarmac handover' i.e. brought to the airport by referring hospital staff. Unstable patients will be retrieved from the hospital, adding approximately 3 hours to the retrieval time
All times above are in minutes. They are 'best case' & assume staff and appropriate aircraft are immediately available, the patient is stable on arrival of retrieval team at referring hospital, and local road ambulances are ready & waiting if they are needed. Local ambulance crews also provide emergency cover for the areas they serve and non-availability is a common cause of fixed wing transfer delays.
Even in an emergency, all aircraft require weather information for their origin & destination, a filed flight plan & aircraft safety checks before they can become airborne. They will ask for (but may not be granted) air traffic prioritisation.
This is determined by the Flight Co-ordinator & Life Flight based on a variety of factors including:
- Clinical condition of the patient
- Weather conditions at both retrieval destination and in Wellington
- Aircraft availability (simultaneous use for other transfers, downtime for servicing, pilot hours etc.)
Both the fixed wing & helicopter are shared with the NICU retrieval team. The helicopter is also used by Wellington Free Ambulance Service, for search & rescue work & by Wellington Police, the Army & the Bomb Disposal Unit.
Concurrent use will limit availability of aircraft. The co-ordinator will match clinical need & mode of transport.
If weather conditions in Wellington deteriorate during a retrieval, the fixed wing will be diverted to Paraparaumu airport to continue by road ambulance. This will add 45 minutes to the retrieval time.
If you have any concerns over delays in retrievals, please contact Henny Nicholls (Charge Nurse Manager) or Dr.Alex Psirides (Clinical Lead) during office hours. Outside of these times, please contact the ICU Consultant on-call. All retrievals are audited and any delays discussed as a matter of routine.
This page was last updated on Friday, 03 August 2018 16:14:41