The HELP Appeal has announced that there have been 26,000 landings on the 25 new hospital helipads it has funded across the country since its creation in 2009. In addition, this figure does not include the 20 hospital helipads which have also been upgraded thanks to its supporters.

Since 2009 the charity:

• Funded 45 new, or the upgrade of existing, helipads across the country.
• Most recently funded new helipads in Manchester and Scarborough; and funded the upgrade of helipads in Coventry and Peterborough.
• Is funding new hospital helipads in Salford, Brighton, Mull Dorchester, Bangor (Wales), Worcester and Sheffield (Children’s).
• Funded upgrades at over 25 helipads all over the country.
• Pioneered the funding of Deck Integrated Fire Fighting System (DIFFS) on rooftop helipads across the country including King’s College Hospital and St George’s Hospital.
• Funded the first weather station at a Major Trauma Centre in Stoke on Trent and has since funded another hospital helipad weather station in Bristol with Leeds and Portsmouth in the pipeline.
• Donated over £40 million towards 45 helipad projects across the country. The cost of its 50 planned helipad projects equates to over £50 million.

Robert Bertram, Chief Executive of the HELP Appeal says: 

“It’s been 14 years since the HELP Appeal was created and our work is as vital now as it was before. As the only charity in the country funding hospital helipads, we are helping to eradicate secondary transfers and we won’t stop until they are no longer needed. This is hugely important because it is clinically proven there are risks to patients who, after landing in an air ambulance, have to complete their journey to A&E by road ambulance when there is no helipad at the hospital.”

Chris Williams made one of these 26,000 landings in an air ambulance, after becoming critically injured when paragliding: 

“It’s surprising and quite shocking to me that such an essential part of a hospital is left to a charity’s fundraising efforts. The helipad is one of the many jigsaw pieces that fitted together so well the afternoon of my accident, resulting in my being as well as I am today and for that I am extremely grateful.”