The news has been greeted with excitement across social media. Photo: NSW Ambulance Facebook.
Wagga is set to host the first-ever NSW Ambulance helicopter base in the state’s southwest, NSW Health Minister Ryan Park has announced.
At present, the state has just six bases, all of which are located along the coast or in northern NSW – Bankstown (Sydney), Wollongong, Orange, Belmont (Newcastle), Lismore and Tamworth.
But as part of a budget commitment, the NSW Labor Government says it will deliver on an election promise and invest a further $158.8 million to deliver three new bases, in Wagga, Port Macquarie and Moruya.
“I’m thrilled Wagga will be home to one of the newest NSW Ambulance helicopter bases,” independent Wagga MP Joe McGirr said.
“This funding boost in emergency care for rural and regional communities is incredibly welcome, ensuring our paramedics can get to patients quickly, wherever they are across our region.”
The service is expected to benefit smaller surrounding towns in the Riverina such as Griffith, Leeton, Cootamundra and Tumut, where patients often need to be flown to bigger hospitals in larger cities for emergency treatment that cannot be performed in local hospitals.
NSW Ambulance Chief Executive Dr Dominic Morgan said aircraft at the three new bases would be able to fly to the majority of towns across the state within 60 minutes.
“NSW Ambulance helicopter operations clinicians [already] attend more than 4200 incidents every year,” he said.
These new resources will be in addition to the NSW Ambulance fixed-wing aircraft fleet which services the entire state and includes two PC-24 jets and four Beechcraft King Air 350C based at Mascot (Sydney Airport).
The Minns Labor Government will invest a further $158.8 million to deliver on its election commitment to commence construction of three new NSW Ambulance helicopter bases in regional and rural NSW as part of the 2025-26 budget.
“This budget delivers on this challenging but important work to rebuild essential health services and will help drive better health outcomes for patients in regional and rural parts of the state by providing quicker access for NSW Ambulance critical care medical teams to incidents in remote locations,” Minister Park said.
“With over $285 million now dedicated to this project, we are proud to back in the incredible work of our NSW Ambulance crews with the facilities and resources they need to do their jobs safely and effectively.”
