Hospital centralisation could drive Finnish air ambulance flights above 1,000 a year

Centralising specialist care in fewer hospitals could increase Finland’s air ambulance transfers from a few dozen to more than 1,000 a year, Yle reports. The flights could speed up long-distance transfers for critically ill patients and free up road ambulances.

Sanna Hoppu, chief physician at the preparedness unit of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, said concentrating emergency care, surgery and specialist services in fewer hospitals could increase both the need for complex patient transfers and their overall number.

Jukka Pappinen, a health sciences researcher at South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, estimates that more than 1,000 patients could be transferred by air each year. His university’s analysis found that air ambulance flights can be cost-effective on journeys of 300 to 500 kilometres. They may make financial sense over shorter distances when a specialist doctor accompanies the patient, because a long road transfer ties up the doctor for hours.

Finland currently has no aircraft reserved solely for air ambulance work; the planes are also used for business flights. By comparison, Sweden has six dedicated air ambulance aircraft. If Finland handled transfers in the same way, it could have as many as 1,700 to 2,000 air ambulance flights a year.

The greatest demand would be for transfers to the Helsinki region, where organ transplantation is concentrated. Many patients would travel from Rovaniemi and Oulu to the capital region. Flights could also help with transfers within Lapland, where long distances keep ambulances and their crews occupied for extended periods. Other likely destinations include the university hospital cities of Tampere, Turku, Kuopio and Oulu.

Scanwings operates organ transport and air ambulance flights with three business jets and plans to convert another aircraft for the work. Chief executive Juhani Pakari said a road ambulance trip from Rovaniemi to Helsinki ties up a vehicle and its staff for more than a day. He said the journey could take about an hour by air and might not cost more than an ambulance transfer.

Doctor helicopters are suited to shorter transfers, the article says, because they are slower than aircraft but do not need an airport to take off or land. Some future air ambulance flights could also go to other Nordic countries as cooperation on preparedness increases.

Emergency medical care funding is due to move to Finland’s wellbeing services counties in 2028. Experts also say a national coordination centre is needed to organise transfers by ambulance aircraft and doctor helicopters.