James Lister is now posting explanations on the shutdown of the Warwick Hospital helipad after receiving numerous calls and emails.
Southern Downs Mayor, Cr Melissa Hamilton, Darling Downs Health and now the MP for the Southern Downs are all trying to sort out what is happening with the helipad which has been closed for several months.
Mr Lister posted an interview with Darling Downs Health’s executive director of Rural Health and Aged Care, Dr Chris Cowling, about the helipad. Mr Cowling says it is closed “due to new aviation safety requirements” and that the alternative procedure is evacuating Warwick Hospital patients by taking them by ambulance to “either Australiana Park or the aerodrome”.
Mr Cowling quashes speculation about complaints from neighbours.
“Tales about the helipad closure being the result of complaints by neighbours of the hospital are false”.
He adds that the ambulance and helicopter are timed and no patients “will be disadvantaged by these arrangements”.
According to Mr Cowling, the changes were implemented by the federal aviation safety regulator (CASA) and that his understanding is that the stem from the use of “larger, heavier and more powerful helicopters has resulted in an increase in the number of incidents involving nearby pedestrians being injured by the rotor downwash of landing and departing helicopters.”
The changes have rendered the Warwick Hospital helipad non-compliant.
“Time spend with the stabilised patient waiting for the helicopter to arrive at Warwick Hospital has always been part of the sequence of getting patients flown out to a larger hospital. The use of an ambulance in taking the patient to the helicopter merely means that the stabilised patient will spend some of this waiting time being transported in an ambulance to meet the arriving helicopter, instead of waiting inside Warwick Hospital” Mr Cowling commented.
Restoration of a helipad is “a matter of high priority” but the specifics are unclear.
“I’m not going to speculate about what the solution might be, as it is a complex matter involving elaborately prescriptive aviation safety requirements and the federal aviation safety bureaucracy. There is no easy or fast way of getting around this.”
While admitting the situation is “less than ideal”, Mr Cowling assures the public that there are no hindrances to good patient care.
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