‘Triggers me’: Urgent funding called to fix Far North’s hospital helipad hotspot
A Far North MP is calling on the state government to include funding for a new helipad at Cairns Hospital in the mid-year budget with Health Minister Tim Nicholls admitting that the current Esplanade landing spot “triggers” him.
A Far North MP is calling on the state government to include funding for a new helipad at Cairns Hospital in the mid-year budget with Health Minister Tim Nicholls admitting that the current Esplanade landing spot “triggers” him.
In May, the Cairns Post revealed that a toddler inside a stroller was lifted into the air by a rescue helicopter’s whirring blades taking off outside the health facility in 2022.
The previously unreported incident led to significant changes to the area, with fencing installed around the helipad to keep passersby further away.
But the site, first established in the 90s as a temporary measure, is located next to a popular walking path near the city’s foreshore regularly used by tourists and residents.
The LNP pledged to move the site earlier this year, but have yet to find a suitable location, Mr Nicholls said.
“Every time I come to Cairns I go for a morning walk along the waterfront here on the Esplanade and I walk past that helipad out there,” he said.
“It triggers me every time. I walk past and think, ‘How it can have been left there for so long and not have been dealt with for so long?’”
The helipad, along with a surgical centre, are subject to a hospital master plan that has yet to be undertaken, with no timeline attached to the upgrades.
Mr Nicholls has proposed identifying an alternative landing area away from the Esplanade as an interim solution.
But Member for Cairns Michael Healy said the matter should be addressed with a greater sense of urgency.
“If the Cairns Hospital helipad triggers the Health Minister so much and if it’s a priority like he says it is, the funding needs to be provided in the mid-year budget on December 15,” Mr Healy said.
“Minister Nicholls should be on the Treasurer’s case for the money, he should be rallying his Far Northern MPs to beat the drum for the investment, because the Crisafulli government simply can’t shortchange Cairns when it comes to saving lives.”
Further complicating the helipad’s relocation is that none of Cairns Hospital’s current buildings are suitable for a helipad.
Despite this, Mr Nicholls has expressed a preference that the landing site be relocated to on top of a hospital building.
“The sensible and obvious location is on the roof,” he said.
“I think if you look at all hospitals, you’ll see that most of them these days, in built-up areas, have helipads on the roof.
“I can look out of my office in Brisbane and see the helicopters flying into the top of the Children’s Hospital and the Mater Hospital, and the helipads are on the roof.
“At the PA (Princess Alexandra Hospital), they’re on the roof. So, the roof makes a lot of sense in this location, yes.”
Cairns Hospital’s current helipad can’t take the new generation of AW139 rescue helicopters used by QG Air, due to weight restrictions, Mr Nicholls said.
“If you have a 7.5-tonne helicopter coming in hot, fast and heavy, that pad won’t take it as it should,” he said.
“We need a facility that can do that and transfer patients as quickly as possible, and it’s been one of my priorities, and that’s why we’re looking at an interim solution.”
Since being elected, the LNP has “ripped money” out of the Far North, including for the Common User Facility in Portsmith and Cairns Western Arterial Road, Mr Healy said.
“It’s about time they deliver the investment the region needs,” he said.
Originally published as ‘Triggers me’: Urgent funding called to fix Far North’s hospital helipad hotspot
