A rural retrieval service.

In rural areas critically ill patients are transferred frequently from smaller to larger hospitals. The time spent in transit may influence their outcome. Intensive care facilities in the Central Western Health Region of N.S.W. are located at The Orange Base Hospital and many of the patients admitted to that unit each year are transferred from other hospitals. Since 1984 The Orange Base Hospital, with the N.S.W. Ambulance Service, has offered a retrieval service, and during the three years 1984-86, 135 patients have been retrieved. The service has been well accepted, the only major criticism from the referring hospitals being the extra time taken for some patients suffering from trauma to receive definitive treatment. By improving communications and developing a regional plan, this difficulty may to some extent by overcome.