From ATH to EHF: developments in Royal Australian Air Force expeditionary health
Air Force (AF) operational health requirements have undergone a major change in recent years. Before 1999, the focus was on base health care, aviation medicine and occasional aeromedical evacuations (AME). While exercise deployments were common, operational deployments were extremely rare. Since the commencement of operations in Timor Leste, ADF health personnel have been continuously deployed on a wide range of operations, both within our region and beyond. Lessons learned from operations such as Bali and Sumatra Assist have included the necessity of a rapidly responsive mass casualty evacuation capability, formalised critical care in the air, flexible health planning and the benefits gained by health personnel of the three services working together to provide an overall ADF health response. These experiences have necessitated a major overhaul in all aspects of AF operational health. Previous
capabilities were based around fixed airbase support elements such as the Air Transportable Hospital (ATH) and lacked the flexibility to meet the demands of the new global environment. The AF expeditionary health system involves the deployment of a modular Expeditionary Health Facility (EHF) tailored to the requirements of the mission – from EHF level 1 support to flying squadrons, to an EHF3 with basic surgical and critical care capabilities. While designed for its core role of airbase support, it can be tailored for other requirements. Not only has this new system improved AF’s ability to undertake its core operational roles, but it has resulted in greater flexibility and a
better overall health capability for the ADF.
