A female diver has been airlifted to hospital after she went into cardiac arrest while diving off NSW’s central coast.

The 30-year-old woman is being treated for the bends, a decompression sickness suffered by divers where bubbles form in the blood stream due to changes in pressure.

Paramedics and police were called to Esplanade Park, Terrigal about 9am (AEDT) on Sunday after reports of CPR being performed on a female diver.

Members of the woman’s diving group had brought her to shore.

The woman was taken to Gosford Hospital while paramedics tried to revive her with CPR and ventilation.

Once stabilised, she was flown by helicopter to a Sydney hospital where hyperbaric oxygen therapy is available in a recompression chamber.