Safety overhaul for Royal Preston Hospital’s helipad after fatal accident at similar site

It comes after concerns were raised about the risk to pedestrians from so-called “downwash” - a rapid change in air flow - caused by the rotating blades of the helicopter.

The issue was highlighted in a health and safety audit carried out at the Sharoe Green Lane site in the wake of an accident at a hospital in Devon two years ago in which a pensioner was killed after being blown over as she walked close to where a helicopter had landed.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LTH) has now asked Preston City Council for planning permission to install a brand new helipad at the Royal Preston.

Documents submitted as part of the application reveal that the audit questioned “pedestrian safety and the size and state" of the current facility.

It questioned whether pedestrians understood that the level crossing-style ‘wig-wag’ warning lights at which vehicles have to stop when a helicopter had landed also applied to them.

To that end, LTH now wants to install drop-down barriers to go with the lights, which would prevent those on foot and in cars from entering the designated 30-metre “downwash area”. They would be activated by the pilots of the air ambulance to advise people of incoming aircraft.

New fencing would also be installed to protect vehicles and people in the car parks close to the helipad, which lies near to the hospital’s main vehicular entrance. 

An entirely new 484 square metre helipad would also be installed to replace the existing 300 square metre facility which was not designed to deal with the size and weight of the current helicopter fleet.

The pad would be painted green with a yellow touchdown circle, white cross and centrally-placed red ‘H’.  It would feature multi-directional landing lights around the perimeter and within the touchdown area itself, along with low-level floodlights to improve the overall lighting at the landing site.

The surface of the current helipad has been overlaid and repainted several times and is now degrading to such an extent that loose stones can be picked up from the surface. Water gathers in one corner of the pad and the painted markings have faded.

Eight-seven year old Jean Langan died after suffering head injuries when she was blown over by downwash at  Derriford Hospital in Plymouth in March 2022.