Air ambulance service facing increased use
Published Monday January 5th, 2009
Busy | Government urged to put another plane into service
The demand for New Brunswick's air ambulance service has grown steadily over the past five years and the province should consider adding another plane before someone is grounded, says Ambulance NB CEO Rock Marois.
The air ambulance service helps Ambulance NB perform critical-care patient transports between health-care facilities throughout New Brunswick, other patient transports, and it also brings patients back to the province after they've received care elsewhere.
Marois said the province's fixed-wing aircraft responded to about 700 calls in the past year.
That's a sharp increase from the 548 calls it received in 2006-07, or the 507 it had in 2005-06.
Marois said there's a danger that a patient could be forced to wait until the plane is available if New Brunswick's health-care system continues to rely so heavily on the service.
"When you look at the volume of calls, it makes sense that at one point in time a decision will have to be made (about whether New Brunswick needs another plane)," he said.
"The current plane is being used so much that there's going to be some patients that require it that (won't be able) to use it because it's out for another call."
About 243 calls from 2006-07 involved a patient dealing with a cardiovascular incident.
The second highest usage of the air ambulance service was to bring patients home after they had been referred to hospitals outside of New Brunswick for treatment.
Marois said it's a good time to consider adding another aircraft because the Department of Health is reviewing its provincial trauma system.
He said the increase shows that Ambulance NB is making good use of the resource, but it also signals potential problems for the future.
"It's a positive because it does show that we're fulfilling a need, but the issue though is that the plane is almost too busy now," he said.
"It's good that we're making good use of it, but if it's always being used, it might not be available for a certain type of call ... With the amount of hours the pilots have flown, in some cases, we may not be able to use the (air ambulance) when we need it."
He said he's not surprised by the increase in air ambulance calls because the total number of calls has climbed dramatically in the past six years.
"If you go back to the same period around 2002, the total calls were around 65,000 for the province," he said.
"This year we're going to hit (120,000). The total calls have gone up and there's lots of reasons for that: the aging population; the fact that we do more transfers; that some hospitals specialize in different fields (and patients must travel there for specific services)."
Marois said the air ambulance service moves patients safely between New Brunswick facilities and also to specialty centres in Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax and elsewhere.
"It really depends on the care they need," he said.
"The patient may seek neo-natal care in Halifax, or the other day we had an amputation case from Edmundston that was flown to Saint John. There are all sorts of cases that require specialized care."
He said he'll be discussing the need for another aircraft when he meets with a trauma committee tasked with making recommendations about the provincial trauma system.
"At the end of the day, it is a policy decision. The government is going to have to decide if they want to have another aircraft and if so, what kind of aircraft?" he said.
"Some people favour helicopters and some people favour the fixed-wing (aircraft). There are pros and cons to everything."
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