Well the fiasco is a classic case of "be careful what you wish for"
or in terms my thrice married mate says,
Yes the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, but it doesn't taste any sweeter.
Falling service standards, and surprise bloody surprise, ASNSW now trotting out the standard line re a better, faster service, its all bollocks. We sacrificed a NGO based service, which could have easily been changed, modified, improved to meet the new contract standards, a service delivery model that cost the community 1/10th of SFA compared to what we shell out now for a service that still doesn't come close. ( In fact scrub my last, the existing operators did meet all the benchmarks in the contract anyways!)
Remember all that BS about newer, faster bigger machines which was the reason ASNSW used to axe the existing NGO operators - that is the Canadian Woodpecker Co. promised new machines ahead of the rest (contrary to evidence provided by Careflight and Lifesaver). Where are they - The 412's so derided by some are now the mainstay of the fleet - Plenty of 139's in service elsewhere, so why the delay here ?
Bring back the dedicated providers - dedicated as in providing a genuine service to our community and regional areas, not shareholders on the other side of the world. Even the biggest champion of the new regime, Nozza, a gent with shall we say, real and genuine insight into aeromedical retrieval in NSW, has, apparently, seen the light and realised all is not smelling of roses after all. God forbid a similar debacle when the northern ops come up for review !
And re the start up - not pointing the bone, however surely the current housing and hangaring arrangements at BK increase the pressure on crews to get moving - we obviously aren't dealing with joyflights here! Again a second rate start up proposal that was accepted over existing proven base arrangements - I guess the woodpecker was hoping Lifesaver would fall over and get dibs on the new Cape Banks site, and perhaps the Westmead one as well!
Rant over - This is after all about enhancing service delivery to our citizens who are at a very real risk of carking it - not embarking on some ideologically driven reform campaign by bureaucrats who are neither healers or aviation professionals.