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An ambitious plan to construct a lifesaving helipad at Mull and Iona Community Hospital is going ahead thanks to a £400,000 donation from the HELP Appeal, the only charity in the country dedicated to funding hospital helipads.
The money will cover the entire cost of the helipad.
The hospital is a 45-minute ferry journey away from Oban and around 15 minutes away by road from Glenforsa airstrip, which is currently used for medical evacuations by helicopter.
By having a permanent, purpose-built hospital helipad, the Scottish Air Ambulance and larger HM Coastguard helicopters will be able to land right next to Mull and Iona Community hospital, which will avoid the need for a transfer by land ambulance to the airstrip. This will ensure that specialist hospital treatment at another A&E hospital or major trauma centre can be accessed within the Golden Hour and thus improve patients’ outcomes.
The helipad will have a state-of-the-art lighting system with settings for different weather conditions, which will be radio controlled by the incoming helicopter pilot, with a backup system at the nursing station in the hospital, enabling helicopter landings to take place around the clock.
It is likely that many landings will be required every year to transport critically ill patients to the most appropriate major trauma centre or A&E hospital.
The helipad will be known as the Wilson-Thomson Helipad in recognition of the fundraising efforts of John Wilson and the late Dr Bill Thomson, without which Mull and Iona Community Hospital would not have been built.
Cheryl-Anne Paterson, NHS Highland’s senior charge nurse for Mull & Iona, said: “We are delighted that the hospital will soon have a helipad, the reduction in transfer time to mainland hospitals will significantly improve the life chances for our patients when they need specialist emergency treatment.”
Robert Bertram, HELP Appeal’s chief executive said: “Helipads save lives and the community of Mull and Iona requested our help. We had no hesitation in supporting them and donating £400,000 for this vital helipad, because when patients need to be transferred for specialist treatment then it is really important that this is done as quickly as possible.”
One of the key people behind the Mull project is Simon Jones, an aviation technical advisor from the HELP Appeal, who recently helped a similar project at Campbeltown Hospital, which the HELP Appeal also funded in its entirety.
Stuart McLellan MBE, an ambulance technician with the Scottish Ambulance Service and who was also involved with the Campbeltown project, helped bring the team together to make the Mull project happen.
NHS Highland is a key partner in the project and staff at the hospital in Craignure are fully supportive of it. Neighbours Andy and Naomi Knight are donating land for the helipad. Mull and Iona Community Trust will, on behalf of the community, take
on the responsibility for maintaining the helipad.
Construction of the helipad is under way by local firm TSL Contractors Ltd and is due for completion this summer.
The steering group would like to express thanks and gratitude to Glenforsa airstrip and the local HM Coastguard teams for the many years they have facilitated medivacs from Mull. It has been greatly appreciated by all the team.
