CUH helipad expected 'before end of summer'

CORK University Hospital (CUH) has confirmed that work on a long-awaited helipad is underway, and is expected to be complete in the next few months.

CUH previously had a helipad, but it was closed in 2003, leaving emergency helicopters landing in Bishopstown GAA pitch or Cork Airport and patients then being transferred by ambulances.

The hospital first applied for planning permission for the new helipad in 2018, with conditional permission granted in mid-July 2019.

The proposal consisted of a new helipad facility and elevated connection to the existing emergency department, on the northeast staff car park within the CUH campus as well as the demolition of an existing boiler house chimney.

It also includes the construction of a new two-storey staff car park on the west side of the hospital campus, to replace the parking spaces which will be lost to the helipad. After delays in construction due to the pandemic, it was hoped the helipad would be operational by early 2024.

The South/South West Hospital Group said last year that they would be issuing a tender in April 2023 for the works, and that construction would begin in June 2023 and take an estimated six to nine months to complete. Last month marked nine months since construction was planned to begin. A spokesperson for the hospital has confirmed construction is ongoing, and gave a provisional date of completion.

The CUH spokesperson told The Echo: “Work on the helipad is currently underway and it is hoped that helicopters will be able to land at the campus before the end of the summer.

“A formal announcement regarding completion of construction will be made at a later date.”