Not only do we deliv­er ser­vices where no oth­ers exist, but we also pro­vide sup­port­ive care to exist­ing Queens­land Health clin­ics. Our col­lab­o­ra­tion helps alle­vi­ate pres­sure on local ser­vices, extend clin­ic reach, and enhance the qual­i­ty and con­ti­nu­ity of care. 

The Cairns/​Mt Isa PHC nurs­ing team is made up of 11 PHC nurs­es, one Abo­rig­i­nal and/​or Tor­res Strait Islander Health Prac­ti­tion­er and two nurse prac­ti­tion­ers. Our ded­i­cat­ed PHC nurs­es offer far more than basic health sup­port − they are high­ly skilled, each bring­ing more than ten years of remote health expe­ri­ence and post­grad­u­ate qual­i­fi­ca­tions to fur­ther enhance their clin­i­cal exper­tise and deliv­er a wide range of ser­vices tai­lored to the unique needs of each com­mu­ni­ty. From immu­ni­sa­tions to chron­ic dis­ease man­age­ment, women’s and men’s health, mid­wifery care, and child and fam­i­ly health ser­vices – their scope of prac­tice is broad and deeply impactful. 

In com­mu­ni­ties with­out estab­lished health cen­tres, our team becomes the front­line of care. Their pres­ence often rep­re­sents the only acces­si­ble source of rou­tine and pre­ven­tive health ser­vices for res­i­dents. In these stand­alone clin­ics, the PHC team trans­ports all nec­es­sary equip­ment, med­ica­tions, and sup­plies via RFDS air­craft to the loca­tion, often set­ting up in com­mu­ni­ty spaces such as town halls.

This approach ensures the deliv­ery of essen­tial health ser­vices in areas where per­ma­nent med­ical facil­i­ties may not be avail­able. How­ev­er, despite their exper­tise and pre­pared­ness, access to these remote areas still remains depen­dent on weath­er conditions. 

Our nurs­es work in mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary teams, col­lab­o­rat­ing close­ly with RFDS gen­er­al prac­ti­tion­ers, men­tal health pro­fes­sion­als, Queens­land Health pro­fes­sion­als, allied health pro­fes­sion­als, and local com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers to iden­ti­fy and address indi­vid­ual and com­mu­ni­ty­wide health needs. 

The impor­tance of their work can­not be over­stat­ed, as they play a crit­i­cal role in bridg­ing the gap between rur­al liv­ing and urban health­care stan­dards. By pro­mot­ing ear­ly detec­tion and pre­ven­tive care, they help improve long-term out­comes and reduce hospitalisations.

The RFDS PHC team admin­is­ters vac­cines to both chil­dren and adults to help pro­tect com­mu­ni­ties from pre­ventable dis­eases. This is an espe­cial­ly crit­i­cal task in remote areas where out­breaks can esca­late quick­ly, and trav­el to the near­est hos­pi­tal or GP may take hours. Their efforts ensure that immu­ni­sa­tion sched­ules are maintained. 

Our women’s and men’s health ser­vices include cer­vi­cal screen­ing, repro­duc­tive health edu­ca­tion and lifestyle coun­selling. For expec­tant moth­ers in remote com­mu­ni­ties, mid­wifery care deliv­ered by these nurs­es is often the only avail­able pre­na­tal and post­na­tal sup­port to ensure safe preg­nan­cies and improve mater­nal and infant health. 

Chron­ic dis­ease man­age­ment is anoth­er cor­ner­stone of our ser­vice. With con­di­tions such as dia­betes, car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease, renal dis­ease and res­pi­ra­to­ry ill­ness­es preva­lent in rur­al pop­u­la­tions, our nurs­es pro­vide edu­ca­tion, mon­i­tor­ing and med­ica­tion sup­port to help patients man­age their con­di­tions local­ly. This pre­vents com­pli­ca­tions and reduces the need for cost­ly, time-con­sum­ing trav­el to urban centres. 

A typ­i­cal day for a PHC nurse attend­ing a stand­alone clin­ic begins ear­ly with arrival at the RFDS hangar by 6.30 am. After equip­ment checks on key clin­i­cal equip­ment such as the i‑STAT machine, defib­ril­la­tor, vac­cine fridge, drugs and com­put­er, the nurse ensures up to 100kg of med­ical equip­ment and sup­plies are loaded into a trol­ley and weighed. Weight is imper­a­tive so the pilot can com­plete pre­cise flight cal­cu­la­tions. With the doctor’s help, the equip­ment is loaded into the aircraft. 

After fly­ing to the remote com­mu­ni­ty, a local com­mu­ni­ty vol­un­teer trans­ports the team and gear to a suit­able com­mu­ni­ty space, where the nurse sets up a makeshift clin­ic to deliv­er a full day of PHC ser­vices. The day is organ­ised by pre-booked appoint­ments, with a full indi­vid­ual clin­i­cal list for both the nurse and doc­tor. There’s no onsite admin­is­tra­tion on the day, and unex­pect­ed con­sults often add to the busy schedule.

At day’s end, it’s always a scram­ble to pack up, load the gear, and make it back to the air­craft in time for the flight home, usu­al­ly return­ing to the hangar between 5.30 and 6.30 pm, depend­ing on the clin­ic location. 

Ulti­mate­ly, the work of RFDS PHC nurs­es and Abo­rig­i­nal and/​or Tor­res Strait Islander Health Prac­ti­tion­ers in rur­al and remote Queens­land is more than a job – it is a com­mit­ment to equi­ty, com­pas­sion, and com­mu­ni­ty. Their abil­i­ty to adapt to var­ied clin­i­cal roles, build trust with­in iso­lat­ed com­mu­ni­ties, and respond to a broad spec­trum of health issues makes them a cor­ner­stone of Australia’s rur­al and remote health land­scape. As we con­tin­ue to nav­i­gate health­care chal­lenges in remote areas, their role remains crit­i­cal in ensur­ing that qual­i­ty care is not lim­it­ed by location.