Salford Royal Hospital receives donation for new helipad

Salford Royal Hospital in the UK city of Manchester has received a £2 million pledge from the HELP appeal, which will be used to establish a new rooftop helipad on top of the hospital’s new building.

The pledge will be received through a series of four £500,000 installments, covering the entirety of the helipad’s projected construction costs, with the first installment presented on Tuesday 12 April.

The helipad will enable air ambulance services to fly critically ill or injured patients in directly by helicopter, potentially saving up to 20 minutes of additional time previously needed to transfer patients from the helicopter to the hospital. It is anticipated that approximately seven flights could land on the new helipad every week.

Construction of the new hospital building began in early 2021

Construction of the new six-storey Salford Royal hospital building began in February 2021, with work being led by BAM Construction. In addition to the new helipad, other features of the new hospital will include a resuscitation area, five emergency theatres, inpatient beds and diagnostic imaging.

“Fast access to specialist treatment is vital to give patients the best chance possible of surviving and, if they survive, going on to make the best recovery,” said Dr Scott Beattie, Consultant in Salford Royal’s Emergency Village and also a North West Air Ambulance Charity Doctor.

“At the moment, patients that are brought to us by air ambulance, land in a nearby sports field and are then transported to us by road ambulance. Although the sports field is less than half a mile away, this costs precious time,” he added.

The HELP Appeal previously donated £1.36 million to the Manchester Royal Infirmary for the construction of their helipad. Since the helipad opened in May 2021, it has served over 70 air ambulance landings. The appeal also recently donated money to the Cambridgeshire-based Magpas Air Ambulance for the purchase of new medical equipment earlier this year.