NSW Ambulance in Australia has conducted a two-month trial employing drones to bolster aeromedical and special operations during search and rescue missions.

The Remotely Piloted Aeromedical Clinical Systems (RPACS) trial aims to improve patient care, operational safety, and effectiveness in hard-to-reach locations.

Specialised training was provided to seven critical care and special operations team paramedics to help them manage, maintain, and deploy RPACS drones.

These drones are equipped with thermal imaging, search lights, and loudspeakers, improving situational awareness and patient outcomes.

RPACS drones are able to live stream to a secure link, allowing medical response management from afar.

They can deliver medical supplies, encompassing blood products, anti-venoms, and defibrillators, to patients up to seven kilometres away in isolated places where traditional access may be challenging.

These drones can also offer aerial surveillance in real time and aid in critical decision-making.

A partnership between NSW Ambulance and Toll Aviation helped the project come to fruition. It is also backed by the NSW Health Sustainable Futures Innovation Fund.

The RPACS technology is expected to promote sustainability by reducing reliance on aeromedical helicopters.

An evaluation of the trial is now in progress, focusing on environmental sustainability and the potential future advantages of this solution for caregiving and aeromedical operations.

New South Wales' health minister Ryan Park said: “These drones feature a range of capabilities to more effectively locate patients, communicate with them and deliver essential items.

“It allows aeromedical and special operations paramedics to make better decisions, and therefore, improve patient outcomes.”

In a related effort to improve healthcare accessibility, the New South Wales state government introduced the Medibus last month, a mobile diabetes clinic servicing rural communities in the Hunter and New England regions.