HELP Appeal-funded helipad opens on the Isle of Mull

The HELP Appeal, a UK charity dedicated to funding hospital helipads, covered the cost of the entire project, donating £418,000 in total.

TSL Contractors began constructing the helipad in May 2023 on land donated by Andy and Naomi Knight, adjacent to the Mull and Iona Community Hospital on the Scottish Isle of Mull.

Mull and Iona Community Trust agreed to undertake responsibility from the outset to oversee the future condition and maintenance of the helipad.

The state-of-the-art helipad ensures that the Scottish Air Ambulance and larger HM Coastguard helicopters can land beside Mull and Iona Community Hospital any time of the day or night, which will avoid the need for a patient to be transferred by land ambulance to the Glenforsa air strip, which is 15 minutes away by road.

The platform will ensure that specialist hospital treatment at another A&E hospital or major trauma center on the mainland can be accessed within the ‘golden hour’ and thus improve patients’ outcomes.

With funding from the HELP Appeal, two helipads and an enclosed hangar space were recently constructed at Midlands Air Ambulance Charity’s new air base and headquarters in Shifnal, England.