Dame Diana Johnson

As always, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for securing the debate—he must contribute to more debates than any parliamentarian I have ever come across—and for giving us the opportunity to discuss the important role that hospital helipads play in supporting urgent and specialist care. My hon. Friend the Minister for Secondary Care, who has responsibility for this policy area, is always happy to meet Members, in particular the hon. Member for Strangford, and I know she will look at Hansard to read the contributions of other right hon. and hon. Members. The hon. Member for Strangford is a long-standing supporter of air ambulance services. He has regularly talked about their importance, particularly for rural and coastal communities, where the geography can make it harder to reach patients quickly. In his excellent opening speech, he paid tribute to the important and vital work of the air ambulance service in Northern Ireland. I too recognise its invaluable work. I also recognise the work of the air ambulance charities around and across the United Kingdom, which provide a vital service helping seriously ill or injured people. Across England, air ambulance charities carry out more than 50,000 missions each year. I am very grateful to everyone who works and volunteers in the sector, and to the communities that support them. As a Yorkshire MP, I have to give a shout-out to my local air ambulance—Yorkshire Air Ambulance—for its brilliant work. I thank all Members who contributed to the debate. My hon. Friend the Member for Camborne and Redruth (Perran Moon) asked about the Royal Cornwall hospital. Although decisions on capital investment are a matter for local NHS systems, I understand that work is under way to look at options to improve the air ambulance access at the hospital. I also understand that the hospital is investigating alternative options so that coastguard helicopters can land safely. My hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham) talked about the necessity of the service in rural and coastal areas. She and a number of other Members raised fuel resilience. We routinely engage with air ambulance charities on contingency planning, and as part of that we have addressed fuel resilience. The Government will continue to work with fuel suppliers to make sure that essential services are supported. The hon. Member for North Cornwall (Ben Maguire) said that Cornwall Air Ambulance is based in his constituency. He brought the whole debate to life when he talked about 15-year-old Lewie, who suffered horrific injuries, and about how the service saved his life. He also talked about how important the service was when three-year-old Mia had a seizure. I send my best wishes to them both—I am sure all Members would like to do the same—and I hope they have made good recoveries. My hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) gave the example of a family member—I think it was his niece—who needed an air ambulance. I was pleased to hear that she is now 21, and hopefully she is in good health. There were some very good contributions to the debate. I heard what the hon. Member for Chelmsford (Marie Goldman) said about Essex & Herts Air Ambulance, and the issues with the local hospital. I will relay those points to the Minister for Secondary Care. I recognise the concerns raised by hon. Members and the all-party parliamentary group for air ambulances. The points are well made. In June, the APPG published its report making the case for safeguarded 24/7 on-site hospital helipads at major trauma centres and specialist hospitals, which is a very good piece of work. We all accept that getting seriously ill or injured patients to the hospital quickly matters. Air ambulance teams work alongside NHS ambulance service and hospitals to provide specialist care at the scene and help patients to reach specialist treatment quickly. We also need to think about what happens when the aircraft reaches the hospital. If direct landing is not available, a patient may need an onward transfer by road ambulance, which can add time to the journey and place additional demand on ambulance vehicles and crews. Alternative landing sites are an important part of resilience when a hospital helipad is unavailable, so clear local arrangements are needed to minimise delays. Hospital helipads therefore have an important role to play, but the current picture is not the same everywhere. Helipad provision has developed locally, over many years. There has not been a single national approach setting out where helipads should be provided, what the provision should look like and how it should be funded. Currently, responsibility for hospital helipads sits with local NHS organisations, working with planning, aviation and local authority partners. Decisions about investment, including improvements to allow night-time operation, are generally made locally, as part of a wider NHS estates and capital planning programme. But I recognise the arguments made today that we need to look again at whether those arrangements remain right for the future. NHS England has identified challenges, including changing aircraft and aviation standards, secondary ambulance transfers, and differences in landing infrastructure. Work has also started to strengthen safety arrangements. Following the tragic incident at Derriford hospital, NHS England worked with His Majesty’s Coastguard, the Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority to strengthen assurance. Sites are now required to have a named accountable manager, a site-specific risk assessment and a helipad operating manual. Chief executives have been asked to confirm that appropriate safety standards are being met. NHS England continues to work with the air ambulance sector and regularly meets the DFT and Air Ambulances UK. It also takes part, when needed, in the onshore surface landing group, which brings together organisations including the Civil Aviation Authority, the DFT and the devolved nations. I want to be clear about what we are doing next. I am pleased to announce that the Minister for Secondary Care has instructed the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to scope a strategic review of air ambulance resilience, including hospital helipads and landing sites. That work is starting, and I do not want to pre-empt what it may find or any recommendations that it may come up with. It will give us the opportunity to look at current landing facilities, onward transfers, future clinical and aircraft requirements, and the condition of existing infrastructure. The hon. Member for Strangford rightly recognised that different hospitals have different clinical needs, geography, landing arrangements and planning constraints, and that the same solution will not be right for every site. I agree that any future approach needs to be proportionate and informed by clinical and operational need. Let me turn to the concerns, raised by a number of hon. Members and the APPG, about the impact of the planning system—