Air ambulance service to 2 major B.C. hospitals still out as service restored to 4 others
Since their grounding, 35 air ambulances have been diverted, 10 of them with critically injured patients
Air ambulance services has been restored to four hospitals on B.C.'s South Coast and Vancouver Island, but two major Vancouver-area hospitals are still without the vital service that transports critically ill patients to the rooftops of health centres.
Flights resumed Thursday at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital in Comox, Sechelt Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital.
However, air ambulance flights to Vancouver General Hospital are operational only during the day.
The province says service will resume shortly at B.C. Children's and B.C. Women's Hospitals.
But air ambulance helicopters, provided by Helijet, still don't have permission to land at Surrey Memorial or Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster.
Linda Lupini, executive vice president of B.C. Emergency Health Services, said Transport Canada barred the helicopters because of a problem with the size of the landing pads at the two hospitals.
Transport Canada regulations state that in order to be certified, the helicopters must land on helipads which are the same size as the landing pads they were originally tested on.
The helicopters in use were tested on larger landing pads than the ones in use at Surrey Memorial and Royal Columbian.
Landing pads too small
Lupini said there were also issues with whether some of the aircraft were certified to land at night.
In order to restore service to the four hospitals, Helijet obtained a temporary exemption from Transport Canada.
Lupini said the province wants the air ambulance service restored as soon as possible to Surrey Memorial and Royal Columbian.
One option would be for Helijet to acquire aircraft that are certified to land on smaller helipads, she said.
Another option is set up a landing pad near the hospitals — instead of on the roofs — for air ambulances in Surrey and New Westminster.
Right now, patients that would normally be transported via air ambulance to those two hospitals are flown to Pitt Meadows or Langley regional airports, then taken by ground ambulance to hospital.
Lupini said the province has kept close tabs on patient care since the air ambulances were barred nearly two weeks ago.
There have been 35 cases in which patients who would have used air ambulances were taken by ground transport. Ten of those cases involved critically ill patients.
"Our objective is to get the Royal Columbian helipad and Surrey Memorial helipad operational as soon as possible," Lupini said.
Helijet vice president Rick Hill was not available for comment.
A spokesperson said the company is working with Transport Canada and the province to resolve the issue as soon as possible.