A new hospital helideck is one step closer to opening after alterations to stop cladding being blown off by choppers – but it still won’t open for some time yet.
The Royal Sussex County Hospital’s new deck was originally scheduled to open in 2019, but a series of delays means even test flights are yet to start.
Last year, the BBC revealed one of the biggest delays was fears the new cladding on the Thomas Kemp Tower, which the helideck or helipad sits on top of, would blow off when helicopters land.
This week, the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust said its operational readiness review had been completed, but more work to the facade of the tower could be needed.
It now needs approval from the Civil Aviation Authority before test flights can begin.
A spokesperson for the trust said: “We are working closely with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and completing a number of outstanding activities required to allow the helipad to become operational.
“This includes recruitment and training of the response and fire team, completion of standard operating procedures, CAA final inspection, and test flights.
“We are also aware of a possible need for work to the external façade of the building on which the helipad is on.
“We are working closely with our main contractor to assess the extent of any further work that may be required and the impact it may have.”
The deck is part of a multi-million pound redevelopment of the Brighton hospital site, which is now nearing completion.
According to a Freedom of Information response, the outstanding work from the CAA’s checklist at the end of September related to de-icing facilities, night lighting, a rescue model, warning notices at access routes, an operations manual and an emergency response plan.
Sounds very expensive, glad they have the money.
Thanks for the update
That’s the trouble. The helipad is only inches. It is UNDERSIZED and shoddily constructed. Nor can it handle our coastal cross winds on top. They’d have been better off using a car park at Brighton General for a helipad and motoring patients around than trying to show off by having it on the roof of the Royal Sussex.
That is completely untrue, and lacks any insight whatsoever.
Yea because if it was shoddily constructed or undersized then the CAA wouldn’t have picked up on that would they.
Please stop spouting uninformed bollocks youve decided yourself. The CAA will comply paint markings on airfields to be removed and re done if they’re so much as 0.2 of an inch wrong. At what point do you imagine they rocked up, had a look, decided the pad was too small and said “AHH, it’s fine don’t worry about it”
Contractors do talk you know. They aren’t happy with most of the hospital, but particularly the helipad and the plans they were given to work to.
If I’m wrong, the hospital wouldn’t be having these issues with it and there would be proud photographs of the finished result.
The fact the County Sussex hospital build cost leapt from £495m to £700m should ring alarm bells alone. I wonder how much of this is down to the helipad. I could mention the undersized lifts and backed up drains and constant flooding in the basement, to name a few other issues with the build.
When did the CAA last use inches as a form of measuring where lines are painted??? We not in the ’60’s
Complete waste of money and should never have been built. It will nowhere near, save the same number of lies if that money was spent on proper new diagnostic equipment in our new hospital.
The current situation of landing in East Brighton Park and ambulances people to the A&E will take almost the same amount of time as having to navigate people down a windy path and into the lift down to A&E. However, the money was spent so I guess we must try and make use of it and make sure we never allow a folly that is so ugly so and useful and so disturbing to happen again.
Exactly right. The lift issue alone should have prevented this theatrical helipad ever happening. The wait for one tiny pedestrian lift can be half an hour. The other always has a bed patient using it.
A dedicated lift for the helipad has been installed
Perhaps its future lies as a cafe/restaurant ?
If I lived next door or was ever unlucky enough to stay at the hospital I am not sure living under a helipad is my idea of “safe”.
There’s a tall block of sheltered housing, Courtney King House on one side. The views are stunning on the upper floors, so may compensate.
Dear Mr Russell-Moyle,
As we live within view of the East Brighton Park – the problem with landing there is the amount of time, people and resources needed for each landing.
Each landing takes a squad of officers on the landing area – clearing and securing the area. That usually delay the landing by one or two “overpasses” of the helicopter (5-8 minutes).
It also blocks an ambulance for an extended period of time as it sits in wait position from the call comes in until area is cleared and helicopter lands.
Getting the helipad to work would save 10-25 minutes at least in getting people into hospital and save a lot of people resources (Police + ambulance). It is resources we do not have in excess.
Now if the sad “Brighton Gasworks” building site gets its ugly 500 apartments – traffic will get even worse in the area and driving from East Brighton Park to the hospital will probably go from current 5-7 minutes to 10-15 minutes.
The sad state of roadside bin placements opposite bus stops already delay traffic by a lot.
The new bus stops by the hospital with two opposing bus stops also stop traffic completely for extended periods. It just require 1 bus to take extended “break” at the hospital bus stop – for traffic to snail from hospital down to the Esso petrol station. That leaves very little road availability for ambulances.
Not to mention that the proposed height of the development would provide a considerable hazard to a helicopter trying to land.
Most of that happens as the helicopter is on its way (so no problem) and its rare occurrence, landings at the helipad will still need to be preped on the pad above the hospital. Still more lives would have been saved if it has not been built and East Brighton Park continued to be used. The new new helipad is a white elephant, that has cost people lives lives, in my view the losses should be cut and the thing taken down, but then that would cost even more money, so I suspect it will be rearely used and then left to rot.
Dear Mr. Russell-Moyle,
As a certified pilot with a flight tracker on the roof – I can promise you it is not rare… 🙂
It is not often the area is clear before the helicopter approaches. There are not officers readily available at the drop of a call every time. As I said – usually 1-2 rounds of wait before they can land. And then they have to approach very slowly over the golf course and downhill.
And the resource cost – well at LEAST 1 patrol vehicle for about 1-2 hours + ambulance blocked for 30-60 minutes. That is 3-4 person hours as a minimum – but probably more than 6-8 person hours on average – so roughly a full workday equivalent for every landing. It takes a while to clear the area and usually the helicopter is on ground for 10-20 minutes.
Money would be well spent on make the heli platform and lifts work. Now that would save lives!
Some time could be saved by installing a Public Info system around the East Brighton Park telling people to clear the area before police arrives. But it would probably drive residents nuts…
The helipad is a joke . The noise itself in a built up area ridiculous .
I must express my professional and fundamental disagreement with your comment, Lloyd. It is surprising to me that such a statement would be made, and I am inclined to question if this is indeed Lloyd, given its lack of insight, and a picture that is a low-res screengrab off Lloyd’s Twitter account. If indeed this was your statement, I find it extremely disappointing.
In the realm of air transport for medical emergencies, our focus is on the most critically injured patients, where time is of the essence. As you are aware, RSCH is among the only eight adult Major Trauma Centres (MTCs) in the country, with the next nearest being up in London, and plays a pivotal role in receiving critical patients promptly. Patients arriving in this manner often bypass the standard A&E queue through a pre-alert, proceeding directly to the Resuscitation Ward, where a trauma team awaits for rapid assessment before further diagnostics, treatment, or surgery.
In the decision to utilise helicopters for medical transfers, the focus is not about merely “saving as many lives as possible”, but rather about optimising the handling of critically unwell patients. Helicopter transfers offer a distinct advantage in time-sensitive situations. Every transfer, be it into or out of a helicopter, is carefully considered, acknowledging the inherent risks. For instance, consider the potential danger of moving a patient with an unstable spinal injury, which, if mishandled, could lead to irreversible paralysis. While efforts are made to immobilise patients, the act of transferring them poses risks that we aim to minimise. Travelling by road is not without its risks either. Every bump on the road poses a potential threat to a patient’s condition, and avoiding unnecessary transfers is optimal.
The process of safely transferring a patient from an incident to a helicopter and subsequently to an ambulance demands time and precision and causes delays that can be avoided with a working helipad. Saying that landing in East Brighton Park will take almost the same amount of time is simply, false.
Additionally, helicopters landing in public areas introduce an element of danger due to powerful rotor wash, which can propel debris and pose risks to individuals and property nearby. The suitability of sites like the Gasworks in East Brighton for helicopter landings raises legitimate concerns, as pointed out by Kaz.
Lloyd, I encourage you to spend time with the Air Ambulance and at an MTC Hospital with a helipad to gain a deeper understanding before forming opinions on emergency medical practices. These insights would be invaluable after a firsthand experience in these settings moving forward.
My comments are based on detailed conversations with the trust and professionals.
The trust chair of board who inherited the project has been clear to me it should not have been built but it has now and needs to be made work.
Overall lives will be lost because of a focus on the helicopter pad compared to other equipment which would have saved more lives.
It sounds like some people who were part of the vanity project can’t own up to their mistakes.
If I’m wrong in 10 years and it’s regularly used, I’ll eat my metaphorical hat, as of yet it not used and wont be in near future.
If it’s a question of prioritisation, then I can be agreeable that the core processes within RSCH that need to be addressed; I suspect we’ve both read the damning CQC report. Whilst I don’t share your thoughts that a helipad is a vanity project; the timing of this particular improvement is questionable if more core developments are being delayed because of the helipad, as East Brighton Park is serviceable for now, if not optimal. However, they did also receive £1.7 million in charitable donations from HELP to see this along to completion as well.
Purely from a logistical standpoint, under RSCH being the only aMTC outside of London, it will certainly get used, for any incident in South East and Sussex, with the only debatable locations being around the Chichester line where we’re halfway between RSCH and Southampton MTC!
And I think it’s only fair that if I turn out to be wrong, and it is not regularly used once it is open for business, hopefully, this autumn I saw, by the latest updates, please pass on that metaphorical hat to me for digestion!
Here what you say about it being more beneficial to use helipad rather than Wilson Avenue . Problem is ,at huge expense, not ONE helicopter had ever landed at RSCH. Over the next few years I strongly believe that no helicopter will ever land. If it does, like Russell, I’ll eat my hat!
It is indeed more beneficial to not have changeovers from air to land for a variety of reasons I mentioned earlier, if the helipad is open, which of course, currently, it is not. Unfortunately, until that happens, it’s a bit like saying no ambulance DCAs have ever boated across the sea (because they can’t).
I believe mission data from the local Air Ambulances would provide a good bit of insight into likely usage; destination MTC (if both have helipads, public landing complicates the decision-making process) when travelling by air is usually done as the crow flies. As the only MTC in the Southeast, you could reasonably predict what would attend RSCH when the helipad is active.
I like to think myself reasonable to being shown a logical counterargument, and if it turns out this isn’t the case in a few years, then please feel free to point this out to me John, and I’ll accept it gracefully.
Wrong place .. Wrong development….
Should have flattened and redeveloped the General Hospital site and sold the valuable site in Kemp Town to pay for..
As far as I know the land is bound by covenant to be for medical care. A LOT of the land on that side of Eastern Rd is bound by the same covenant.
I do agree it is the wrong placement for a hospital – especially with the absolute crap traffic infrastructure (Eastern Rd) to support it. Some could be helped by connecting Manor Rd to Bristol Gate. Or Bowring Way to Donald Hall Rd. That would give extra entrance possibilities into the Ambulance area of the Hospital.
North Service Road is due to be open soon to two-way traffic if it’s not already, linking Bristol Rise to Whitehawk Hill Road. It’s a tight turn for an ambulance though if they are aiming to access A&E that way. Although the wards around there are also due to be moved around a bit, with things like the UTC being moved up to NSR.
You’d be hard-pressed to link Bowring Way to Donald Hall Road because of the gradient causing complications to construction, maybe via the end of the cul-de-sac and replacing the footpath outside Damson that leads up to Donald Hall Road, but I’m not seeing a huge benefit there outside of some niche cases. You could do the same with Manor Road and Bristol Gate, you’ve got the footpath linking the two. That’s certainly doable, but again, not a huge benefit because the junction linking Bristol Gate/Bowring Way is pretty small, so wouldn’t be suitable for anything above light traffic.
I suspect the covenant would be discharged at this point if it ever was challenged, doesn’t count much to have it discharged, and most of it is irrelevant concerning the hospital. Council aren’t going to move the MTC; the sheer amount of work that would be required is way above the council’s powers when it comes to these, as they are strategically placed in the country.
Ben you are right the covenant would be easily discharged. There was much talk and plans to move to hospital to Falmer in the 1980s.
You could swap Brighton Uni at falmer and the Hospital. The old buildings which were build by same man who built parliament and were grade 2/2* listed would have been perfect university and teaching spaces.
That horse bolted 40 years ago and not worth that argument.
The hospital is staying where it is, but doesn’t mean it can improve and look at some of the failed recent decisions.
The widening of the Bristol Gate / Eastern Road junction leading up to A&E was an excellent example of those words being put into action. I look forward to seeing the major hospital developments being completed because I genuinely think they are going in the right direction.
I agree.
They could also of flattened Southlands and rebuilt a major hospital there.
Just off the A27 and right next to Shoreham airport.
Accepted rules suggest landings cannot take place if the windspeed is greater than 35mph or thereabouts.
Owing to the height of the tower, at more than 20 storeys equivalent, this should be reduced at least by 20 mph, given the funnelling effects.
Which mean it is unlikely to be safely used – particularly at such a seaside location.
Depends on the capabilities of the helicopter and the design of the helipad itself. Like any aircraft, rotary wing aircraft will have a maximum wind speed they can take off, land and operate in. Each type will have its limits as well as a safe wind speed set by the local aviation authority also influencing when they can operate. Civil Aviation Authority has a good relevant document to read through here detailing more about it specific to hospitals here: https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP1264HelicopterlandingathospitalsAugust2019.pdf
I have read this document – it does not say anything about safe wind conditions.
The Federal Aviation Administration uses a figure of 25 knots gust wind speed – and say all you want about Prince Andrew, landing any helicopter on a moving deck in the winds one got in the South Atlantic is taxing (as generally military and EMS pilots are more proficient than others)
Then there is the problem of building and site induced wind – where the wind is accelerated and swirled around specific buildings – recent research suggests that given the height, you can deduct quite a bit of that 25 knot figure. Commercial flights around New York are suspended when the wind hits 35 knots.
In the southern North Sea helicopters are rarely stopped due to high winds in my experience. All transfers excepting heavy machinery are by frequent helicopter flights. Can’t see why this helideck should be any different
Amongst the differences are:
1. Injured patients – the spinal injuries quoted – don’t do well with gusts ot more than 20 knots. Sometimes even flights need to below 95 knots in level flights – see the Vinson ramp strike recovery.
2. Helipads on platforms are positioned free of the sorts of obstacles not seen on the Thomas Kemp tower, if not the coastal location, if not it’s immediate position on Eastern Road make it rather unsuitable given the wind swirling possible – one cannot just fly into the prevailing wind with a platform or ask the hospital to change orientation like you can with a ship.
The hospital should have done such a local airflow survey – perhaps they were waiting for construction to finish – but no one has seen it. Have you, should we ask again under FOI or do we need the MP involved – who appears to have joined the discussion.
Your thoughts?
Well I wasn’t a helicopter pilot obviously, nor am I an expert in construction, it was just an observation that offshore helicopters seemed very safe and stable and were rarely stopped by the weather in my limited experience. They were kept under power when landed so that the pilot had full control, they never shut down on the helipad. In fact it was a long time ago, they were old technology Whirlwind helicopters, and flew to production platforms and rather cramped drilling rigs where there were nearby obstructions like cranes and the derrick.
I don’t think we should underestimate the expertise and experience of the engineers involved, isn’t it too early to pile into the project before it’s been commissioned?
In the design phase of helipad, site and lab tests – i.e. specific wind tunnel tests are usually done in advance of.construction, rather than after construction. Being a public project, such reporting should be available under FOI – yet nothing has been disclosed. There are many firms that do this sort of work – and advertise.
Quite detailed reports should be prepared – however I fail to see how you could keep the speeds encountered at that site to less than 20 knots for the sorts of patients this service requires.(Other things like vibration and noise, air quality, and the effects of rotor downwash appearing to be considered more, if not in the comments above).
(I had thought the point of a helipad was just a scam to obtain funding, both from the government and charities – I would be even more worried if it was actually used.)
What a joke, enough said really
I’m don’t often agree with our local MP, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, but on this occasion I’m in total agreement. As he rightly states getting from East Brighton park by ambulance takes about two or 3 minutes. Getting seriously ill patients into the hospital using the helipad will take much, much longer. In addition think of the several hundred people living just behind RSCH and the noise of each landing and take-off. Does anyone know how much has ,so far, been spent on this non-operational helipad?
I completely disagree with your assessment from experience. Preparing a non-dedicated landing site, safely removing a patient, and any equipment currently in situ, and loading that and securing it onboard a land vehicle takes a lot longer. I respectfully suggest that thinking otherwise is indicative of someone who has never had to do it.
Wrong wrong wrong. Have spent the last 27 years taking patients to and from numerous hospitals in London and South East!
From hospitals; makes me think you’re PTS? The route from EB to RSCH is about that, yeah, especially with exceptions – it’s the loading and unloading time and the increased risk to the patient that we’d rather avoid. So we gotta be careful, and that takes longer. Remember, it’s MT typically for airlifting.
There is, unfortunately, no scenario I can think of where a direct route via air would be slower than landing on a field, unloading the patient, reloading them into an ambulance DCA, and then driving the remaining way.
Answer 3 points
1) how many millions have been wasted on this vanity project?
2) How many helicopters have used this pad?
3) How many more years before its ever used? (Again I agree with Russell it’s NOT going to happen).
1) I don’t know, £1.6 was given by HELP towards the costs, £600k of this went towards a fire suppression system.
2) It’s not finished.
3) Few months if the latest estimates are to be believed.
Should have stuck to the ‘Falmer’ plan.
We who live near the helipad, were promised that there will be no more than 50 landing a year, during consoltation. It then rose to 70. From our experience, one can not trust any promises made to us.
The hospital still uses Bristol Gate as their waiting area for their deliveries and patient transport vehicles who wait on double yellow line with engine running. Did they ever planed for trafic during the build?
That got challenged at the HLG this week.