RHH Helipad Approved

A life-saving helipad at the Royal Hobart Hospital is now a reality after its construction was endorsed by the Hobart City Council tonight.

The addition of a helipad, which the previous Labor-Green Government incredibly removed from the hospital design, will eliminate critical transfer time for emergency patients.

The Hodgman Liberal Government welcomes the Council’s unanimous support for a helipad for critical aero-medical retrievals.

Hobart is currently the only Australian capital not to have proper air access capability to its major tertiary hospital. Tonight’s common sense decision means this will no longer be the case.

All Tasmanians will benefit from helipad access to Tasmania’s tertiary health facility.

The helipad will be built on the roof of the new K-Block that will start construction next year.

It will allow the Royal to respond to critical incidents faster, deliver patients to treatment sooner and reduce preventable adverse outcomes due to avoidable transit delays.

With the approved helipad, critically ill patients will be delivered to the emergency department or theatres within a few minutes of landing at the Royal.

More than 30 critical minutes after an emergency will be saved because ground ambulance retrieval will no longer be necessary.

The inclusion of the helipad on K-Block is supported by hospital clinicians, Ambulance Tasmania and the community.

As a condition of approval, further noise testing will be undertaken in conjunction with the Theatre Royal to establish accurate noise impacts.

This will provide the detailed information necessary for the Theatre Royal Management Board’s future planning and management of the theatre’s activities, noting that it is already the case that emergency patients are currently being transported by road ambulance with siren noise.
Michael Ferguson, Minister for Health