Helipad Appeal - £3.9m

Our latest project is a £3.9million appeal to build a dedicated helicopter landing pad at our central hospitals site.

Our Helipad Appeal will enable the creation of a brand-new 24-hour access primary helicopter landing site, the first in central Manchester, allowing our hospital to save many more lives and increase the chances of a full or improved level of recovery for many seriously ill or injured patients.

Located on the roof of the new multi-storey car park on Grafton Street, the helipad will be connected to the hospitals by a high-level link bridge and roof top corridor.

Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital has a dedicated 24 hour Accident and Emergency department and belongs to the Greater Manchester Major Trauma Centre Network. This means our hospital provides rapid access to treatment and rehabilitation for children following a life threatening or life changing physical injury.

When a child receives a major trauma injury, the speed with which they can get specialist medical help can be the difference between life and death or between recovering and recovering well. The first 60 minutes after sustaining such an injury is known as the ‘Golden Hour’ and is crucial in determining to what extent that person can be saved. Any delay, however slight, can result in significantly increased chance of permanent injury, such as paralysis or brain damage, or maybe even death.

Travelling by air ambulance rather than by road can dramatically reduce the time it takes patients to reach major trauma or specialist treatment centres but our Trust does not currently have a dedicated landing pad.

Currently, the Trust relies upon a secondary landing site in a nearby park an arrangement which means that patients initially transported by air ambulance must then be transferred the final mile of their journey by land ambulance. A secondary transfer adds precious minutes to the overall transfer time with every moment’s delay greatly increasing the risk to life.

Our Appeal for an onsite helicopter landing site will ensure a stronger future for some of the most vulnerable children who have suffered very serious injury, and those requiring the very best care as quickly as possible.