This year marks a significant milestone for King’s College Hospital as it celebrates the eighth anniversary of its life-saving rooftop helipad, which has seen 2,660 landings since its opening in 2016. Serving as a Major Trauma Centre for South East London and Kent, the hospital has become a vital hub for emergency medical care, with the majority of landings facilitated by the Air Ambulance Kent, Surrey and Sussex and London Air Ambulance.

Before the helipad’s construction, air ambulances faced the challenge of landing some distance from the hospital. Patients were then transferred via road ambulance, a process that could take up to 25 minutes—an eternity for seriously ill patients requiring urgent medical attention. Now, with the helipad in operation, the transfer time to critical care has been dramatically reduced to just five minutes after landing, effectively saving precious time and, in many cases, saving lives.

The helipad’s establishment was made possible by a generous donation of £2.75 million from the HELP Appeal, which also funded the installation of the first-ever Deck Integrated Fire Fighting System (DIFFS) on the UK mainland. This state-of-the-art system is designed to automatically spray foam from a series of nozzles on the helipad, extinguishing any potential fire in around 15 seconds, compared to relying on a team of firefighters. This innovation enhances the safety of both patients and emergency responders during critical operations.

Robert Bertram, HELP Appeal Chief Executive, says,

“We are incredibly proud to have contributed to this essential facility. The helipad not only represents a significant advancement in emergency medical care but also embodies our commitment to saving lives. Every landing on this helipad is a testament to the collaborative effort between our charity, the hospital, and the air ambulances service to provide timely care to those in need.”