New helipad opens at Launceston General Hospital

Minister for Health Jacquie Petrusma officially opened Launceston General Hospital's $16 million helipad.

Transcript

00:00The helipad here today will allow one of our ambulance helicopters to land two to three

00:06times per week, providing life-saving care to Tasmanians by connecting them directly,

00:11as the Minister said, to the emergency department, to the intensive care unit, to operating theatres.

00:17And we know from later this week, our helicopters will be actively landing on this helipad right

00:22here and providing that life-saving care to Tasmanians as part of a fully integrated critical

00:27care network across the state.

00:33Prior to the establishment of this custom-built helipad, the helicopter was landing just nearby

00:39in Ockabee Gardens. For a range of regulatory reasons and to improve safety and quality

00:45and of course allow direct access to the hospital itself, that site was decommissioned and over

00:49the last 12 to 18 months, paramedics have been landing at Launceston Airport and bringing

00:55patients directly here to the hospital. Now we know that's happened on approximately 40

01:00occasions, and so what that means is from later this week, those 40 occasions will be

01:05able to occur directly here on the helipad, cutting down that time to life-saving critical

01:10care for patients all across the whole state when they need emergency medical care here

01:15at the Launceston General Hospital.

01:18I think a simple visual inspection of where the helicopter landed at Ockabee Gardens compared

01:23to what we see behind us today clearly demonstrates this state-of-the-art $16 million helipad

01:30and the enormous benefit that will confer on our aeromedical service here in Tasmania.

01:36It's a state-of-the-art pad, it's able to be landed on in all weather conditions, it

01:41has all the redundant safety features and fire suppression features which are critical

01:46to safe and contemporary helicopter operations and that's why it will stand to benefit Tasmanians

01:51for decades to come.

01:53For more information visit www.fema.gov