The Courier first reported last April that the Air Ambulance was unable to land at the helipad in most weather conditions but an ambulance insider says nothing has been done to rectify the situation.

"None of us can believe the situation and even after it was in the paper last year, nothing has been done - it's outrageous," they said.

A neighbour in Anticline Lane, which runs alongside the hospital car park on top of which the helipad sits, complained of damage to a fence and gate from the downdraft of the helicoptor's rotors after a row of trees was removed that previously protected against the airflow.

The impact is greatest when the wind blows from the north or the south, but the insider said cars in the hospital car park were closer and more likely to be impacted by the downdraft than nearby homes.

"I can't for the life of me see anything that would warrant a ban on take-off and landing," they said. "Even if they did remediate this property it would be a ridiculously small cost in the scheme of things. It could cost someone their life because the Air Ambulance can't land on the helipad or depart."

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In one recent case, a child with a brain-bleed was driven by road ambulance to Redan bus exchange, outside Ballarat Greyhound Racing Club, to be transferred to the waiting Air Ambulance, rather than airlifted directly from the hospital.

While Ballarat Health Services and Ambulance Victoria maintain there is no adverse impact to patient health conducting transfers at Redan if the hospital helipad cannot be used, the insider said there were more factors to consider.

"It's not just the time but the resources you need to do that (transfer). You need people to bundle up the patient and put them in to the (road) ambulance, so now there's an ambulance crew off the road who doesn't need to be. They drive out to Redan and hang around until the patient is loaded and the helicopter takes off which could all take an hour, maybe more," they said.

"Handling the patient, every time you move the patient off a bed on to a stretcher you compromise care, it impacts blood pressure and other aspects. Ideally you don't move the patient unless you absolutely have to ... and road stretchers are different from flight stretchers although there's a project to change that."

Ballarat Health Services said the helipad was one of multiple options for patient transport via ambulance to hospital.

"How a patient is transported, and where they are transported to is decided by Ambulance Victoria based on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) patient acuity, clinical capacity and weather conditions," BHS said in a statement.

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"Grampians Health Ballarat continues to work with Ambulance Victoria, Department of Health, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and aviation management consultants to ensure all transport via air ambulance to and/or from the Base Hospital is undertaken safely and within the necessary guidelines."

An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson said the safety of patients, paramedics, flight crew and the community was paramount at all times.

"Ambulance Victoria has contingencies in place for all helipads when they are unavailable or when pilots cannot land due to safety reasons. In such instances, helicopters land at the nearest suitable landing site. Patients remain in the care of paramedics as they are safely taken by road for the short journey between the hospital and landing site."

Wayne Rigg, who campaigned for years for the helipad to be built, said providing timely, appropriate care for patients was more important than damaged gates and fences.

"One local person's complaint shouldn't be the basis for any restriction on whether people get in and out of hospital in a helicopter," he said. "The bottom line is the issue needs to be addressed and if there's still a ban in place, it needs to be lifted.