Helipad moving to make way for new QEH at King's Lynn

Ministers have agreed to replace the crumbling Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn.

A new hospital will be built on what is currently its main car park.

Before work can begin, a new multi-storey car park will be built near what is curently the 500-bed hospital's main entrance on Gayton Road.

The QEH has now been given planning permission to move the helipad used by the East Anglian Air Ambulance to a field off the nearby B1145 at Bawsey.

It said in a planning statement: "The site was selected due to it’s immediate proximity to the hospital site, its location allows direct emergency access to aid in reducing travel times, with suitable, unobstructed flight paths in and out for air ambulances."

A model of the planned new hospital (Image: Chris Bishop)

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The helipad, which will be built of concrete, is expected to be used 30 times a year.

A new roadway will be built to enable ambulances to drive to and from the landing site.

The statement adds: "The construction of the new hospital will provide a rooftop helipad, meaning our proposal is a temporary measure to ensure the service can continue to be provided throughout the construction phase of new facilities."

The new hospital is expected to be completed by 2030. Experts say the current building, which needs thousands of props and supports to prevent its roof collapsing, will be too unsafe to use by then.

The hospital was built in the late 1970s from aerated concrete planks with an expected working life of 30 years. The QEH is still in use more than four decades later.