Analysis of aeromedical retrieval coverage using elliptical isochrones

Abstract

Epidemiological study, level IV; therapeutic study, level IV.

Geographical access to critical care services in Scotland

“…We have previously analysed these locations in relation to major trauma. 12 Our data suggest that the current critical care network infrastructure can serve the majority of the population who develop a critical illness in a timesensitive fashion. As might be expected, remote areas, and health boards serving these areas, have poorer access to critical care services, with certain isolated communities having poor access to level three critical care facilities, even via helicopter.…”

“…The most frequent cause of critical illness outside of the home is trauma, but the organisation of trauma services differs from that of critical care, and has been extensively analysed. 11,12 The use of an inbound-leg access time threshold can be questioned – arguably, the total time from notification of the ambulance service (regardless of whether by the patient, relatives, or a clinician) to arrival in hospital may be more important. However, most analyses have focused on inbound time only, at least in part because it is difficult to accurately model the outward leg of a journey – ambulances do not return to a ‘base location’ before attending the next call.…”

“…The methodology used to calculate these ellipses is described in a previous publication. 12 We calculated the size, location and orientation of these ellipses for each of the 90 combinations of heliport and hospital. We assumed a helicopter cruising speed of 250 km/h, and a total of 15 min of start-up and loading time (i.e.…”

“…There have been evaluations of the accessibility to burn, 6 trauma and neurosurgical centres in the United States and Canada, [7][8][9][10] and trauma care in the United Kingdom. 11,12 However, all of these studies considered isolated aspects of accessibility, rather than providing a comprehensive profile of access to critical care services.…”