The regulation changes that forced the closure of the helipad of Tasmania's second-largest hospital were made public more than four years ago, the federal aviation authority says, amid growing questions over the state government's level of transparency around the issue.
The Tasmanian Health Service announced on Thursday afternoon that new Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) regulations have rendered the helipad at Launceston General Hospital (LGH) unusable.
Located in Ockerby Gardens next to the hospital, the helipad does not meet size, location, and lighting requirements under the new rules, which came into effect on New Year's Day.
Instead, patients being transported by emergency helicopter to the state's second-largest hospital will have to be driven almost 13 kilometres from Launceston Airport in an ambulance.
Department of Health Deputy Secretary Shane Gregory said he received advice in May last year that operations could continue at the LGH helipad until late 2023 when it would require upgrading.
"Planning for potential upgrading or replacement of the LGH helipad had been identified in the LGH master plan and this work commenced in the third quarter of 2022, in accordance with the master plan timelines," he said in a statement.
"However, in November 2022, the department received updated advice that it was not possible to upgrade the existing helipad to the required standard and operations would need to cease earlier than originally advised."
But CASA said the regulations were made and published in December 2018 and came into effect in December 2021, although some provisions were deferred so operators had time to implement the new requirements.
"We understand that the helicopter operator has chosen to stop operating due to a range of safety risks that they identified when considering whether to continue to operate from the helicopter landing site at Ockerby Gardens, next to the hospital," a CASA spokesperson said.
"We have reached out to relevant stakeholders, including the helicopter operator, hospital and the Tasmanian Department of Heath to understand their concerns and the safety risks identified."
Questions have also been raised over the government's level of transparency around the helipad's closure, after the news was only released days after the changes came into effect.
Assistant State Secretary of the Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) Lucas Digney said it was unclear if the information would have been publicly released otherwise.
"I think that's concerning," he said.
"If they're not being transparent about an issue like the closure of the helipad, then what else is there that the community doesn't know about?"
Acting Premier Michael Ferguson earlier said he did not know how long the department had known that CASA's regulations were going to change and did not answer why the department only just announced the news.
He did, however, say the view that the government was only acting on this now due to outward pressure "wouldn't be accurate at all".
The government has previously promised helipad upgrades in the $580 million Launceston General Hospital master plan — the guiding infrastructure strategy for the hospital over the next two decades — which is currently in its second stage and is set to be completed entirely by 2034.
However, the master plan states a strategy for the replacement helipad should be finalised by September 2022 — a deadline that has not been met.
An 'additional stress' on ambulances
Australian Medical Association (AMA) Tasmania Vice President Dr Annette Barratt said the upgrades should be fast-tracked in light of the revelation, but Mr Digney said the government would find that difficult.
"The reality is some of those projects are yet to be funded and some are yet to be finally planned or have the planning permissions provided," she said.
"It's delayed, it's late, it may not ever happen — that's a story Tasmanians are becoming quite used to."
HACSU and the AMA have also voiced concerns about the ramifications of closing the hospital helipad, including potential delays in emergency treatment and how patients would be transported.
Mr Digney said it was "an additional stress on an already overstretched ambulance resource".
"It will take at least a crew, so two paramedics would be required … because generally someone being transported by helicopter would be in a critical or a serious condition."
Dr Barratt said it was vital paramedics were able to offload a critically ill patient quickly so they could get back on the road and deal with the next case.
She said a rooftop helipad, like that at the Royal Hobart Hospital, would make an "immense" difference.
"The patients land on the roof where there is an acute bay on the roof, as soon as they come out of the helicopter, they're in expert hands."
