Ambulance officers will drive 80km to Port Macquarie Base Hospital - not 1km to Manning Hospital - after assessing your injuries using Pre-Hospital Management of Major Trauma Protocol T1.

The question of cost and cost-shifting is becoming part of the community conversation about Manning Hospital as residents seek to understand why Manning Hospital is not classified as a Regional Trauma Service (RTS) hospital in the NSW Trauma Plan - a fact that forces ambulances to drive north for patient treatment.

Ambulance transportation is not covered by Medicare, according to the Ambulance Service of NSW website.

Individuals who require ambulance treatment and/or transport are charged a call-out fee of $357 and a variable kilometre rate of $3.22 per kilometre.

Manning Hospital Health Committee Chair, Don Macinnis OAM argues that it "just makes sense" to send patients to Manning Hospital instead of 80km up the road to Port Macquarie.

"In the Victoria Street incident scenario, the cost of the 1km trip to Manning Hospital would be $360.22 as compared to a bill of $614.60 that would follow the run to Port Macquarie," Mr Macinnis said.

"Cost does matter and who picks up the bill?

"NSW Ambulance services are provided free of charge if you are a pensioner or concession card holder, or fall into a number of other exemption categories. NSW Ambulance fees also do not have to be paid by you if you are covered by health insurance or another scheme."

Mr Macinnis also urges consideration be given in the assessment of Manning Hospital to the impact on families of patients transported to Port Macquarie.

"The logistics for members of immediate families and relatives required to visit a patient who has been transferred to a facility outside their local area adds pressures, such as time, and many hundreds of kilometres of travel and associated costs."

It is these realities that continue to motivate Manning Hospital Health Committee to try to advance the case for Manning Hospital to be reclassified as a RTS hospital in the NSW Trauma Plan, according to Mr Macinnis. The hospital is currently identified as a Local Hospital (LH) and under the Protocol T1, not a suitable destination for patients with a moderate to major injury.

"Emergency trained staff at Manning Hospital are not getting exposure or experience in trauma cases, which in turn is de-skilling staff," Mr Macinnis said.

The committee recently wrote to the NSW Institute of Trauma and Injury Management (ITIM) - the NSW government body responsible for monitoring and co-ordinating the NSW trauma system - seeking information about the process and requirements for reclassification.

This week Mr Macinnis also revealed that ITIM had responded to the committee's request.

"We have received a response that the review is currently underway and they (ITIM) weren't able to offer anything more than what prevails at the moment," Mr Macinnis added.

ainslee.dennis@fairfaxmedia.com.au