Some of the Hamilton Airport-based Life Flight crew with one of the new Beechcraft King Air B200C planes
Health Minister Simeon Brown used the opening of Life Flight’s new Waikato airbase at Hamilton Airport last week to underline the importance of well‑resourced emergency services at a time when pressure on the health system continues to grow.
Health Minister Simeon Brown, third left, after unveiling the base plaque with, from left Life Flight chief executive Mark Johnston, mayors from Ōtorohanga, Hamilton and Waipā – Rodney Dow, Tim Macindoe, Waipā and Mike Pettit with Life Flight chair Richard Stone. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
The purpose‑built base, helped by a $1 million grant from the New Zealand Community Trust, will support time‑critical aeromedical transfers across the central North Island.
“It’s wonderful to be here and just a huge congratulations to everyone -the whole team here at Life Flight – for this opening and for the amazing work they do,” Brown said at the opening.
Not-for-profit Life Flight was launched in 1982, and its fleet includes the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.
The Hamilton base will be home to Life Flight’s fourth fixed‑wing air ambulance and is designed to improve response times for critically ill patients, including those requiring intensive care or neonatal transfers.
Brown told The News assets like the new aircraft and base were an essential part of modern health infrastructure.
“Ultimately that’s the type of infrastructure you need to be able to deliver the services.”
Services such as Life Flight rely on public funding.
Brown said the service would not operate at its current level without strong community backing.
“Health New Zealand puts significant amounts of resource into all of these services,” he said.
“But of course there are very generous trusts and partners who support them as well, which is hugely important and plays a really important role in keeping them going.”
Showing their support at the Life Flight air base opening, from left mayors Mike Pettit (Waipā), Rodney Dow (Ōtorohanga) and Tim Macindoe (Hamilton). Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Brown said contracts for aeromedical services were regularly assessed.
“Each year we go through a process to look at funding and to make sure that we provide uplifts to the services which play this role,” he said.
Fixed‑wing services like Life Flight operate under multi‑year contracts that provide certainty. For Brown, the new Hamilton base was not just about aircraft or hangars, but about ensuring people could access the care they needed, when they needed it.
The Life Flight expansion comes against a backdrop of ageing health infrastructure nationwide, something Brown said was well recognised by the Government.
“The average age of hospital buildings is around 47 years, so there certainly is a need for significant investment,” he said.
There was a funded pipeline of $7.5 billion in health infrastructure projects either in delivery or planning, with further work underway to modernise facilities so they could meet current and future demand.
But while large‑scale hospital builds attract attention, strengthening care closer to home remained just as critical.
Primary care had received its largest funding boost to date in last year’s Budget – around $175 million in additional funding.
“The number one issue for New Zealanders needing to access primary care is the time it takes to get a GP appointment,” he said.
Putting the floods behind them to show Ōtorohanga’s support for Life Flight was, from left Lions Club member Remko Pootjes, mayor Rodney Dow and first term Māori ward councillor Tennille Kete. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Addressing that came down to workforce with initiatives under way to increase the number of doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners able to work in community settings.
“Strengthening our workforce is critical to that. We’ve got a number of actions underway, short, medium and long term, to strengthen our GP and primary care workforce so patients can get those appointments faster.”
For Waikato, Brown pointed to the planned Waikato Medical School as a cornerstone of that workforce strategy.
Training places had already been increased nationally with more to come when the medical school opens.
Producing more clinicians locally, alongside making it easier for overseas‑trained doctors to work in New Zealand, was essential to easing pressure across the health system, said Brown.
Some of the Hamilton Airport-based Life Flight crew with one of the new Beechcraft King Air B200C planes used locally. From left pilot Heath Theron, Craig Reid, John Jenje, flight nurse Amanda Thompson, James Watson, Permel Samy, husband and wife doctor Muir and flight nurse Jenny Wallace, Paul Pettit and Ricky Beddoe. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
