Toowoomba LifeFlight crew helped 891 people in 2023-24 financial year

The Toowoomba LifeFlight base has met skyrocketing demand for help with a 22 per cent increase in flights over the past financial year.

A LifeFlight Helicopter lands in Toowoomba at the rescue helicopter service's new base. LifeFlight Generic

The Toowoomba LifeFlight base remains of the service’s busiest in the Queensland, flying more than two missions each day over the 2023-24 financial year.

Crews was called to help 891 people, a 22 per cent increase on the previous financial year.

Of those missions, 95 related to traffic crashes and 83 were for people experiencing heart problems.

Meanwhile the Roma base flew 96 missions and helped 51 people, with about 10 per cent of those missions relating to traffic crashes.

They were tasked to a wide range of missions including motor vehicle crashes, snake bites, lost bushwalkers, and animal-related incidents, all while servicing a vast area from the Darling Downs to interstate.

The figures come as the LifeFlight caps off a busy year across the state, helping 8177 people, 11 per cent more than the previous year.

LifeFlight chief operating officer Lee Schofield said the Toowoomba and Roma crews demonstrated a high degree of aeromedical excellence during the past financial year.

“The missions run the gamut of emergency care and rescue operations and show how our crews face vastly different situations with fortitude and strength,” he said.

“It demonstrates how crucial LifeFlight’s operations are in helping people who need emergency medical assistance in often remote locations far from major cities and hospitals.

“We couldn’t be prouder of how our critical care doctors, paramedics and aircrew have conducted themselves this past year often in very trying circumstances. They rescue people across regional Queensland and for that we owe them a debt of gratitude.”