Minister for Health Jacquie Petrusma officially opened Launceston General Hospital's $16 million helipad.
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00:00The helipad here today will allow one of our ambulance helicopters to land two to three
00:06times per week, providing life-saving care to Tasmanians by connecting them directly,
00:11as the Minister said, to the emergency department, to the intensive care unit, to operating theatres.
00:17And we know from later this week, our helicopters will be actively landing on this helipad right
00:22here and providing that life-saving care to Tasmanians as part of a fully integrated critical
00:27care network across the state.
00:33Prior to the establishment of this custom-built helipad, the helicopter was landing just nearby
00:39in Ockabee Gardens. For a range of regulatory reasons and to improve safety and quality
00:45and of course allow direct access to the hospital itself, that site was decommissioned and over
00:49the last 12 to 18 months, paramedics have been landing at Launceston Airport and bringing
00:55patients directly here to the hospital. Now we know that's happened on approximately 40
01:00occasions, and so what that means is from later this week, those 40 occasions will be
01:05able to occur directly here on the helipad, cutting down that time to life-saving critical
01:10care for patients all across the whole state when they need emergency medical care here
01:15at the Launceston General Hospital.
01:18I think a simple visual inspection of where the helicopter landed at Ockabee Gardens compared
01:23to what we see behind us today clearly demonstrates this state-of-the-art $16 million helipad
01:30and the enormous benefit that will confer on our aeromedical service here in Tasmania.
01:36It's a state-of-the-art pad, it's able to be landed on in all weather conditions, it
01:41has all the redundant safety features and fire suppression features which are critical
01:46to safe and contemporary helicopter operations and that's why it will stand to benefit Tasmanians
01:51for decades to come.
01:53For more information visit www.fema.gov