GCH Aviation, operator of the New Zealand Flying Doctor Service, is set to open a dedicated air ambulance facility at Nelson airport this month.

The New Zealand Flying Doctor Service (NZFDS) is run by GCH Aviation from its Christchurch and Nelson bases and operates 24/7, flying missions across the country that provide critical care transfers of patients between hospitals. The company will operate the NZFDS from Airport House at Nelson Airport. Previously, the NZFDS shared hangar space and facilities with the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter Trust where space was limited.

COO Declan Smiddy says. “There's space for two aircraft in the hangar, and the patient experience will be more like GCH Aviation's state-of-the-art facility in Christchurch. The new facility will allow the NZFDS to continue to grow the partnership with Nelson Marlborough District Health Board. Flight nurses will have a dedicated space to plan their missions, and the extra room allows a much better level of support for patients and keeps them out of the weather. There will also soon be a patient and whānau waiting room, with shower and bathroom facilities.”

A blessing of the new facility will take place on Wednesday 17 November, led by Nelson Marlborough District Health Board.

The NZFDS crew is made up of a highly qualified group of pilots and nurses. Nelson's seven flight nurses are intensive care unit staff from Nelson Hospital. They complete up to 70 missions a month, regularly moving patients around the South Island and across Cook Strait.

Travers Tennant is the NZFDS lead pilot and one of four pilots based in Nelson, who are rostered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “We are a very busy operation, sometimes transporting four to five patients per day,” he says. In the 12 months to September 2021, the Nelson NZFDS crew completed 691 missions, some involving multiple stops. “We fly mostly between Blenheim, Wellington and Christchurch, but it is not uncommon for us to go as far as Invercargill.”

NZFD Trust CEO, Christine Prince says the service provides critical-care patient transfer services between hospitals across New Zealand: “As a flying intensive care unit with highly-trained medical staff and specialist equipment, we ensure patients receive a seamless level of care from bed to bed and that they are in the safest of hands. We operate day and night transferring critical care burn victims, spinal injury patients, neonatal transfers, stroke and cardiac patients, trauma victims and surgery patients and deliver blood or equipment supplies. The Trust is able to help in Nelson with fundraising for crucial equipment, monitors and medical equipment that prioritises the best patient care.”

GCH Aviation is a family-owned business headquartered in Christchurch at a purpose-built aviation base at Christchurch airport. With other aviation bases in Nelson, Kaikoura, Wellington, Greymouth, Vanuatu and Fiji, the company owns more than 30 aircraft and employs over 120 staff across its helicopter and fixed wing aircraft services, which as well as tourism flights, also include certified flight training, air rescue and air ambulance operations.

GCH Aviation is the winner of the 100 per cent Pure New Zealand Experience Award 2021 and finalist in the 2021 Westpac Champion Business Awards ACC Workplace Injury Prevention Award.