The Royal Flying Doctor Service (South Eastern Section) has released its 2025-26 Year in Review, highlighting the impact of more than 103,000 occasions of care delivered across regional, rural and remote communities.
From emergency aeromedical retrievals to GP appointments, dental care, mental health support, telehealth and specialist outreach, the past year demonstrates the breadth of healthcare now delivered by the Flying Doctor.
In 2025-26, RFDSSE provided 103,596 occasions of care, helping communities access healthcare across more than 85 rural and remote communities.
The year included:
- around 70,000 GP and nurse occasions of primary healthcare
- 5,284 mental health consultations
- 3,124 dental consultations
- 2,613 telehealth consultations
- 2,132 aeromedical evacuations and inter-hospital transfers
- 1,351 remote clinics
- 949 non-emergency patient transports
- dental services delivered across 28 locations
- almost 1,300 specialists transported to regional communities through the Rural Aerial Health Service.
RFDSSE's fleet of 14 aircraft also flew more than 2.98 million kilometres during the year, supported by a workforce of around 400 people, more than three-quarters of whom are regionally based.
Care that reaches people where they live
Behind the numbers are people and communities.
In Tibooburra, local access to RFDS healthcare can save families an 800-kilometre round trip for care. In Milparinka, access to an RFDS Medical Chest can remove the need for a 600-kilometre return journey to Broken Hill to obtain medication. And in communities including Condobolin, Gilgandra and Warren, RFDS medical services are providing reliable local primary care where access to a GP has been difficult to sustain.
RFDS Medical Services in Condobolin, Gilgandra and Warren alone delivered 42,720 occasions of care, up from 35,000 the previous year.
The Year in Review also highlights the breadth of care now provided by RFDSSE, including primary healthcare, emergency retrievals, mental health and alcohol and other drug services, dental and oral health, telehealth, specialist outreach, medical chests and non-emergency patient transport.
90 years of care in New South Wales
The year was particularly significant as RFDS marked 90 years of service in New South Wales.
The Flying Doctor began operating from Broken Hill in 1936, supported by communities determined to overcome the enormous distances that separated people from healthcare. Ninety years later, RFDSSE remains an important part of the NSW health system, delivering care in communities where distance, workforce shortages and limited health infrastructure continue to create barriers.
Independent economic modelling featured in the report also estimated the ten-year present value of avoided mortality and morbidity benefits generated by RFDS aeromedical services at approximately $11 billion.
The 2025-26 Year in Review tells the stories behind that impact: patients receiving care closer to home, clinicians working across enormous distances, communities recovering from isolation and disruption, supporters helping sustain services, and the people building the future rural healthcare workforce.
As RFDS approaches its national centenary in 2028, the mission that began almost a century ago remains as important as ever: ensuring people living in rural and remote Australia can access high-quality healthcare, wherever they live.
