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The helipad at the Royal Preston Hospital is to close for more than two months – so that it can undergo the largest refurbishment in its history.
The facility – which accepts the most critically ill and injured patients from across Lancashire and South Cumbria, who need the speed of helicopter transport to receive lifesaving care – will be out of action from 10pm this Sunday (6th June) until 19th September.
The overhaul will include the replacement of the landing pad itself, along with the installation of new lighting, barriers, fencing, drainage and a weather station.
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During the scheduled 10-week shutdown, helicopter patients bound for the Royal Preston will instead be taken to Fulwood Barracks and then transferred the one-and-a-half miles by road to the Sharoe Green Lane hospital.
The £720,000 cost of the revamp has been fully funded by the HELP Appeal – established to support helipads across the country – which has handed over what amounts to the largest single donation ever received by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LTH).
As the site of the major trauma centre for the whole of Lancashire and South Cumbria, the Royal Preston helipad is the busiest in the North West, according to the latest figures.
Between 1st February and 30th April, it received 37 patients from the North West Air Ambulance (NWAA) service alone, not including those flown in from parts of Cumbria by the Great North Air Ambulance. That puts it ahead of the helicopter transfers to Salford Royal (32) and Manchester Royal Infirmary (29) over the same period.
Andy Curran, medical director of the NWAA and a long-serving A&E consultant at the Royal Preston, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) there would be a raft of benefits from the upgrades, which made the temporary closure worthwhile.
Amongst them is the installation of a proper drainage system that ensures the helipad is not taken out of action by flooding during bad weather.
While the facility has seen several modernisations down the years, it is still feeling the effects of the slightly off-the cuff way it was commissioned more than 30 years ago.
“I think one of the consultants just asked contractors to put some concrete down to build us a helipad – so now we’re having to go back to actually put the infrastructure underneath,” Andy explained.
“Also, the last time we had a light that went out, we had to wait for a special [one] to come from Amsterdam – it’s not like we can just walk down to B&Q and get a replacement. But with having new stuff going in now, it’ll make it much more robust and we will be more able to service it ourselves.”
New barriers on the hospital’s internal roads and fencing around the helipad will also be installed to help keep vehicles and, in particular, pedestrians out of harm’s way when a helicopter flies in – and prevent unnecessary delays in landing.
A health and safety audit was carried out at the Royal Preston in the wake of an accident at a hospital in Devon three years ago, in which a pensioner was killed after being blown over as she walked in the so-called ‘downwash’ area, close to where a helicopter had landed.
The assessment found some improvements could also be made at the Preston site, including ensuring it was obvious to pedestrians that the ‘wig-wag’ warning lights that flash for drivers when a helicopter is using the facility also apply to them.
Andy stresses that the helipad fencing cannot be turned into a “ring of steel”, because of the need for rapid access in the event of an emergency involving the helicopter itself. However, he said that pedestrians attempting to “cut off the angle” by walking across the helipad can cause an incoming helicopter to have to circle around waiting for the individual to clear the area – and wasting vital time.
“This new fencing will prevent that from happening,” he said.
The location of the Royal Preston’s existing helipad at ground level, in such close proximity to the emergency department and its CT scanner – rather than on the roof, as at some hospitals – is already regarded a major plus point for patients arriving by helicopter. It means there is no reliance on a lift nor the requirement for a fire crew to be present for the helicopter’s touchdown.
But Andy says the refurb will make patients even more comfortable as they are ferried the short distance from their lifesaving transport to the unit where they will be given the care that will hopefully keep them alive.
“If you’ve got, [say], a spinal injury, the last thing you want is to be bumped down a ramp and across…different kerb stones – so there’s going to be much smoother access…for patients who do have injuries that are painful when they’re moved,” he said.
However, for Andy, the biggest benefit of the forthcoming overhaul is also the most obvious one.
“It will enable us to continue to receive the most critically injured and ill patients, giving the population of Lancashire and South Cumbria the best possible chance of a healthy outcome.”
What happens while it is shut?
Andy moved to reassure Lancashire and South Cumbria residents that measures were in place to ensure care would not be compromised for anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves in need of an air ambulance to the Royal Preston while the hospital’s helipad is out of service.
The control desk for the helicopter is helpfully based at the same Broughton dispatch centre as that of the North West Ambulance Service, with what Andy describes as “really good links” between the two operations.
He said the resultant level of co-ordination and co-operation meant it would be easy to ensure a land ambulance was available at Fulwood Barracks for any incoming patients in need of the short road journey to the hospital.
However, he added that careful calculations about timings will be made in each case.
“[We will] weigh up the length of time it takes to package a patient, to get them into the aircraft, to safely take off [and] to safely land. And it might be that there are occasions where we would have flown, but actually we’ll say we’ll go by land, because it’s only five more minutes.”
Lifesaving work will go on
With its latest record-breaking donation, the HELP Appeal will now have gifted £875,000 to the helipad facilities at the Royal Preston since the charity was set up 16 years ago.
In 2014, it funded the installation of advanced lighting worth £20,000 to meet the standards required for a helipad at a major trauma centre.
Five years later, the organisation stumped up the entire £135,000 cost of a range of safety upgrades, including a system which allowed air ambulance pilots to remotely activate that lighting via a control panel. The change transformed night-time access and the speed of care delivered to patients experiencing life-threatening injuries and conditions after dark.
Robert Bertram, the HELP Appeal’s chief executive, said of the charity’s latest largesse for the Royal Preston “This new replacement state of the art helipad will ensure that critically ill and injured patients can be transferred directly to hospital safely and quickly, day or night.
“It replaces the old and worn out helipad and will support the incredible work of air ambulance crews and NHS staff – and ultimately, help save lives.”
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