Bristol Royal Infirmary has reached a new milestone in their redevelopment project, as the Board of University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust approved the full business case for the redevelopment.  At the end of March it was announced that the Trust had secured the £70 million loan for the refurbishment by the Department of Health. The Trust aims to sign a contract with construction company Laing O’Rourke in the summer.

Although not specifically referred to in their latest statements, a September 2008 report in the local Evening Post newspaper included mention of the helipad, and while it was a separate project at that time, it is believed to have been rolled into the main redevelopment project to complete all the work in one slug.  At present, patients who need emergency treatment at the Bristol Royal Infirmary are flown to Filton airfield and taken the rest of the way by ambulance.  Significant time savings would be achieved by landing onsite, not forgetting the life-saving benefits of those extra minutes.  While the Bristol Royal Infirmary is technically a separate organisation, it is co-located on one campus alongside the Children’s Hospital and the new Bristol Heart Institute, both of which are expected to also benefit from the helipad.

Jeremy Parkin, HeliHub.com