Hospital helipad test flight after years of delays

A helipad on top of a hospital in Brighton has welcomed its first helicopter - seven years later than planned.

The £15.5m platform at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton was originally meant to open in June 2019 but has been repeatedly delayed following structural concerns and rising costs.

A test flight at about 16:30 GMT on Tuesday saw a helicopter from Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex land on the structure.

Dr Andy Heeps, chief executive of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, said he was "really confident" the helipad would start being used for patients in 2026 after more testing.

"We are a major trauma centre and that means that patients will come here from across Sussex and they need to get here in the quickest way possible," he added.

Airlifted patients currently land in nearby East Brighton Park, and travel to hospital by ambulance.

Dr Stephanie Tilston, major trauma centre clinical lead at University Hospitals Sussex, said: "The next step will be to test out our processes for receiving extremely vulnerable patients, and transferring them smoothly from the helicopter to the right clinical team.

"Every second counts, and so it is essential we ensure we can perform those transfers as quickly and safely as possible.

"We are now an important step closer to delivering a fully operational helipad for people across Sussex."

The helipad was given planning permission for up to 70 flights a year to the hospital's A&E department, except in the scenario of a major incident.

It will receive flights between 07:00 and 19:00, 365 days a year, in normal circumstances.

The helipad was expected to cost the trust more than £452,000 a year to operate.

Heeps said the helipad, which was built on top of a 15-storey tower directly above The Trevor Mann Baby Unit, had been an "incredibly difficult build".

In January 2023, the BBC found that landing helicopters had the potential to blow cladding off the walls of the hospital. Remedial work needed to be carried out to make the site safe.

The hospital is currently carrying out simulation exercises on how people will be transferred down from the helipad once it is open for patients.

Geoffrey Bowden, chair of patients' group Healthwatch Brighton and Hove, said he welcomed the idea of patients soon arriving via the helipad.

"If it saves lives I don't think anyone would be against that," he said.

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