On behalf of the communities of Mull and Iona, MICT has taken ownership of the Wilson-Thomson Helipad at Mull and Iona Community Hospital. The entire cost of £418,000 was paid for by the HELP Appeal, the only charity in the country dedicated to funding hospital helipads. The Helipad is named after John Wilson and the late Dr Bill Thomson who were both involved over many years in community fundraising for the hospital. The Helipad was built by TSL Contractors on land generously donated to the community by Andy and Naomi Knight
MICT has agreed to take on the ongoing liability for maintaining the helipad, ensuring for the community that it is operational 365 days a year. This involves taking out public liability insurance, carrying out daily checks, carrying out repairs to the painted concrete surface and state of the art aviation lighting system and carrying out winter treatment for de-icing using specialist (and expensive!) chemicals. We are grateful to a dedicated team of volunteers from Craignure for committing to carryout the daily checks, without you we could not have taken on the Helipad!
The Helipad was officially opened on Wednesday 29 July by John Wilson, an event which was supported by many in the community and by the Scottish Ambulance Service who sent Helimed 2 from Inverness.
The state-of-the-art helipad ensures that the Scottish Air Ambulance and larger HM Coastguard helicopters can land beside Mull and Iona Community Hospital any time of the day or night, which will avoid the need for a patient to be transferred by land ambulance to the Glenforsa airstrip, which is 15 minutes away by road. This ensures that specialist hospital treatment at another A&E hospital or Major Trauma Centre on the mainland can be accessed within the Golden Hour and thus improve patients’ outcomes.
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