Cranes block Birmingham Children's Hospital helipad landings

The cranes have meant using the hospital's helipad has become a "flight safety" issue

Air ambulances are having to land more than three miles away from Birmingham Children's Hospital due to the number of cranes in the surrounding area.

The cranes have meant using the site's helipad has become a "flight safety issue", a spokesperson for the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity said.

Instead patients are flown to the police training school in Edgbaston and taken by road the final distance.

A hospital spokesperson said they were working "to return to a site closer".

The spokesperson for Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust said there were about 40 "landing" cases each year and the "majority" of those were "due to distance... rather than for time critical cases".

The air ambulance transports about 40 patients a year to the hospital

The cranes are being used to carry out building work near the hospital.

Ian Roberts, air operations manager for the charity, said: "The primary landing site at Birmingham Children's Hospital has been closed for several months, due to the many cranes in the locality which are a flight safety issue."

The charity operates three air ambulances covering the Midlands, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire.

Mr Roberts added the long-term aim was to resume flights to the primary landing site at the hospital "when it is considered safe to do so".

He said in the meantime they were working to secure a site closer to the hospital near Aston Villa's football ground.