AMA welcomes $10.5m rooftop hospital helipad

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THE inclusion of a $10.5 million helipad on the roof of the Royal Hobart Hospital redevelopment has been welcomed by the Australian Medical Association as a win for North and North-West Tasmania.

The AMA had long hoped for a rooftop helipad, as patients have to undergo an extra ambulance transfer when they reached the Hobart Cenotaph helipad.

Its inclusion follows a review into the redevelopment, which also recommended extra funding for mental health facilities, an upgrade of the hyperbaric chamber, and the construction of a temporary on-site building to help decant patients.

AMA state president Tim Greenaway said the helipad could cut transfer times and improve patient outcomes.

“The problems with transfer of critically ill patients, or patients who have been injured in road trauma or accidents, from the North and North-West, has been a major issue,” Dr Greenaway said.

Health Minister Michael Ferguson said managing contractor John Holland and Fairbrother Joint Venture had already signed a new contract that would see the RHH redevelopment delivered under the new specifications.

Mr Ferguson said the $657 million project, expected to resume in February, would create more than 4000 jobs and generate $1.6 billion in economic activity.

But Master Builders Tasmania executive director Michael Kerschbaum expressed concern that the industry could not cope with so many large projects in the South, including Myer and Parliament Square.

Mr Kerschbaum said there had been about 4500 job losses state-wide over three years.

“It’s just really unfortunate because the university’s had its accommodation project scheduled for the last 2½ years but it’s had delays, Parliament Square should have been built by now, and Myer had a budget hold-up,” Mr Kerschbaum said.

“So we’ve got a lot of projects that just weren’t built when they should have been, and these new projects coming on at the same time.”

Fairbrother chief executive Craig Edmunds said it would be a challenge to increase the workforce, but many tradespeople who had left Tasmania for work were keen to come back.