Northern NSW Medical Retrieval Service is based at the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service (WRHS) at Lismore. The medical staff that work on the Retrieval Service are employed by the Northern NSW Local Health District and the affiliated hospital is Lismore Base Hospital. NNSW Medical Retrieval Service is the medical arm of the Lismore Retrieval Service and supplies a critical care doctor to allow 24/7 coverage in conjunction with a NSW Ambulance (NSWA) Critical Care Paramedic. This team undertake pre-hospital and inter-hospital missions and search and rescue and recovery missions as directed by the NSWA tasking agency, NSWA Aeromedical Control Centre (ACC). We are a state of the art winch capable retrieval service that is able to undertake critical care interventions in both pre-hospital and inter-hospital arenas and use road and rotary transport platforms to deliver stabilised critical care patients to appropriate level 5 and level 6 hospitals in the geographical area. We also undertake winch operations off shore, the usual activity being collection, stabilisation and delivery of critcial care patients on cruise ships.

All medical staff undergo extensive training and maintainance of both aviation and medical currency. We are closely affiliated with the Greater Sydney Area Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (GSA HEMS) and our protocols, training and induction to Pre-hospital and Retrieval Medicine is drawn from GSA HEMS. All medical staff spend the first week of employment undergoing aviation training at Newcastle with WRHS then a pre-hospital induction week with GSA HEMS at the ACE Training Centre in Bankstown Sydney.