Uncle Ginsters.
This response may have been 72hrs after the actual event, but that is in no way 'slow'.
There are two key drivers for that timeline:
1. Diplomatic clearances. It may come as a surprise to many that we can't simply turn up to pick up our own from a foreign land.
2. The primary driver; patient condition. Moving a critical patient from an ICU to an AeroMed ac and then back to ICU at the far end is no mean feat. The patient has to be declared stable enough so that the move does not endanger them. This can take days or even weeks.
No doubt the crews/CCAST team were ready and waiting as needed but all of the pieces have to be in place first.
Your point 1, clearances in particular of a weekend can be difficult to obtain, in fact I was part of a crew moving an ICU patient and to get a transit airfield management moving to be ready for our arrival as we had temp/runway length constraints our operations team contacted the minister of aviation for that country.
Your point 2, is very true unless you are moving the patient to a place of care that is a great improvement on what is available locally. One patient has been transferred to the Trauma ICU at the QE. Compared what may have been available locally a calculation of risk is required against benefit. For a transfer of this kind, you probably can't much improve on the level of care that a CCAST Team can provide. The other problem is finding a staffed bed in an appropriate ICU at the receiving hospital.
The local hospital may have limited resources to treat and manage the patients and that includes experience of the medical and nursing staff and that may influence the risk/benefit analysis.