Medics by air

Australia’s maturing helicopter EMS industry

Australia’s helicopter emergency medical service (EMS) industry has undergone some major evolutions and now appears to have reached maturity on a number of levels.

Often a part of police air wing or other search and rescue operations, rotary EMS has over the past years become its own field, with a number of aircraft around the country now dedicated to patient retrieval services. In most cases, this has been done in order to free up helicopters used by police agencies, although in South Australia and Victoria some aircraft are still shared between police and other emergency services agencies.