On Tuesday, a new patient service was officially launched in Armidale, and will provide transportation for regional and rural patients.

Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall, Armidale Regional councillor Andrew Murat and Inverell mayor Paul Harmon were on hand to welcome the new service to the community.

“We are launching the patient transport service here, and this new service is to move patients that don’t require critical care from northern NSW to areas they can get the treatment they need,” CareFlight chief executive Mick Frewen said. 

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“This service has happened in a couple of different ways over the years but NSW Health wanted to ensure the service is operated in the most clinically appropriate way.

“This is an excellent opportunity for the CareFlight team to expand our delivery of essential patient transport services even further into Regional NSW. 

“This patient transport service is the perfect opportunity for CareFlight to be able to help even more patients.”

The not-profit organisation provides rapid response transport to patients needing urgent clinical care, and brings them back home, and now will transport patients needing less urgent medical assistance including surgery. 

CareFlight road vehicles are based in Armidale and other major regional centres, including Tamworth, Port Macquarie and Newcastle.

“This new service operating on the ground in the community, and in the air servicing each of the major regional centres, enables CareFlight to deliver a high standard of patient-centric support,” Mr Frewen said. 

“This service is absolutely aligned with our mission to save lives, speed recovery and serve the community.

“This service is about giving patients from regional areas access to the very best level of health care to meet their needs, while ensuring they are transported with the highest standards of patient care and safety in our fleet of King Air B200 aircraft”.