Hospital Consolidation Means Even Greater Need For Safe
Helicopter Ops
Eurocopter has teamed up with the hospital in Dreux, the French
association of helicopter emergency medical services (AFHSH), and
the French civil aviation authority (DGAC) to conduct a series of
instrument flight tests that will, in the near future, allow
patients to be transported by helicopter from one hospital to
another even under poor weather conditions.
A reorganization of the French public health system now underway
involves concentrating specialist medical services in a reduced
number of hospitals. Eurocopter says this will inevitably augment
the need for air ambulance services, which in turn depends on the
development of a medical transport network capable of providing an
even more efficient service. Without this, the principles of a
universal health service for all citizens can no longer be
upheld.
Until now, the helicopters operating on medical missions only
flew under visual flight conditions, in other words they can only
fly if the weather permits good visibility. This limits their
ability to deal with emergency situations in which every second
counts, for instance when a patient has to be transferred to a
specialized ward in another hospital in the middle of the night. In
such cases, helicopter transport is on average three times faster
than the same journey by ambulance.
These are the first trials in Europe to test the use of
helicopters operating in an instrument flight rules (IFR)
configuration to perform medical transport flights – a major
innovation. They demand that the Eurocopter EC145 should complete a
flight entirely under GPS navigation, from takeoff to final
approach, confirming the helicopter’s ability to follow a
predefined flight route even in the event of unfavorable
meteorological conditions.
Eurocopter has been working in close collaboration with the
French association of helicopter emergency medical services (AFHSH)
and the French civil aviation authority (DGAC) since 2007 to define
the appropriate regulatory, technical and operational framework for
IFR flights in a specifically medical context. The aim is to
facilitate the task of transporting patients, increase the
efficiency with which such transfers are performed, and further
improve passenger safety.
The experimental trials were conducted this week between the
hospitals of Nogent-le-Rotrou and Dreux in the Eure-et-Loir region,
the latter being designated as the pilot center. If all goes well,
it should be possible to set up a regular transport service on this
route on a permanent basis towards the end of 2009.
The next stage after the trials will be to implement flights
under real operating conditions. The experience gained during the
test phase on the route between Dreux and Nogent-le-Rotrou will
serve as a model for other similar services linking hospitals in
other regions of France.
Eurocopter selected its EC145 for the tests since the
manufacturer considers it to be the helicopter best suited to
future emergency medical service (EMS) applications. The aircraft
is already one of the best-selling models in the EMS market.