Politics Home | Supporting Air Ambulance Week and securing the future of hospital helipads

Hospital helipads are a critical part of the emer­gency healthcare infrastructure supporting air ambulance operations across the UK. For patients requiring urgent specialist care, safeguarded 24/7 on-site helipad access is an important part of the journey from the scene of an emergency to definitive hospital care.

The APPG for Air Ambulances report, Critical Moments, Life- Saving Infrastructure: The Case for Safeguarded 24/7 On-Site Hospital Helipads at Major Trauma Centres and Specialist Hospitals, published in June 2026, sets out the need for a national policy framework for safeguarded 24/7 on-site hospital helipad access across the UK. The report was prepared with research and evidence contributions from Air Ambulances UK, the UK’s air ambulance charities, the HELP Appeal and the University of Liverpool’s Flight Science and Technology Group.

The report assessed 43 Major Trauma Centres and special­ist hospitals and found that more than half did not have 24/7 on-site helipad access at the time of publication. The findings highlight significant variation in helipad provision and the need for a more consistent approach across the UK.

This creates a wider challenge for the emergency care pathway. Air ambulance crews provide advanced pre-hospi­tal care at the scene of serious incidents, but many patients then require rapid transfer to specialist hospitals for defini­tive treatment.

Where an air ambulance cannot land directly at a hospi­tal, patients may need to land at a secondary off-site loca­tion before continuing by road. The report highlights that this can introduce additional delays and complexity into the patient journey, potentially affecting access to definitive care and contributing to longer hospital stays and more complex treatment pathways.

The report is not primarily about securing large-scale capital funding. Rather, it highlights the absence of a co-ordinated national, policy-led framework to enable safeguarded 24/7 on-site hospital helipad operations.

The report sets out six recommendations requiring action across three government departments, the NHS and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), highlighting that delivering a fully operational network of safeguarded 24/7 on-site helipads requires a co-ordinated, cross-government framework. This includes the Department of Health and Social Care provid­ing national health policy, strategic provision and oversight; the Department for Transport supporting aviation policy and regulatory oversight through the CAA; and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government ensuring 24/7 helipad access and safeguarding are properly reflected in the national and local planning system.

This work forms part of a wider effort to secure the future of air ambulance care. The UK’s 21 air ambulance charities work alongside the NHS to deliver lifesaving pre-hospital emergency care, collectively responding to an average of 137 missions every day.

Air Ambulance Week 2026, taking place from 7–13 September, will celebrate the people and communities who make these missions possible. This year’s theme, Every Mission Starts With You, recognises the donors, fundraisers, volunteers and supporters whose contributions help keep air ambulance services flying.

 Find out more at www.airambulancesuk.org

 Join us during Air Ambulance Week

Tuesday 8 September | 11am – 1pm | Room S, Portcullis House

Air Ambulances UK, in alignment with the APPG for Air Ambulances and the APPG for Aviation, invites you to meet the air ambulance and aviation community to hear about the lifesaving work taking place across the UK, and learn more about the policy priorities shaping the future of air ambulance and aviation services.