A north Queensland woman says she is “traumatized” after having to wait four hours for medical evacuation on the island because the region’s rescue helicopter was unavailable.

The Townsville area is served by a Queensland government rescue helicopter but was out of action on the evening of 4 November.

That night, Debbie Denison suffered a late-night hemorrhage on nearby Magnetic Island.

“I went to the toilet and when I looked into the bowl I saw it was just full of blood,” he said.

Ms. Denison went to the doctors’ office on Magnetic Island, where staff quickly examined her.

“They said we don’t have facilities here, you need to go to hospital,” Ms Denison said.

“The helicopter pilot was sick.

“The doctor said, ‘We will land the Cairns helicopter,’ but he was not available either.”

Two hours had passed before alternative arrangements could be made.

Townsville Coastguard, run by volunteers, arrived at Magnetic Island with paramedics.

They put Ms. Denison on a coast guard ship and transported her to the mainland.

He did not arrive at Townsville University Hospital’s emergency department until 2.30am, more than four hours after he first attended the island clinic.

“I was still actively bleeding,” Ms. Denison said.

Illness and care were blamed

The Queensland Police Service (QPS) operates the government-owned QGAir rescue helicopter.

A QPS spokesman said the asset had been available 94.9 per cent of the time in the last three months, but acknowledged staff illnesses and maintenance had impacted operations.

Townsville Coastguard Deputy Commander Dave Finlay said Ms Denison was one of six medical evacuations the squadron had responded to this year.

While the Coast Guard trains for medical evacuations, their primary mission is to respond to ship malfunctions and there have been 120 calls out so far this year.

Ms Denison was highly complimentary of the efforts of paramedics and coastguard volunteers.

But he said the Magnetic Island community expects faster medical evacuation and better access to a rescue helicopter.

Police and Emergency Services Minister Dan Purdie blamed inadequate funding from the former state government for the shortfalls in service.

“Keeping Queenslanders safe and ensuring appropriate emergency medical responses across the state are top priorities for the Crisafulli government,” the minister said.

“Unfortunately, the former Labor government failed to adequately fund QGAir, which affected the service.

“When QGAir is unavailable, Queensland Access Services can coordinate an alternative emergency medical response and deploy other life-saving assets.”