Nov 17 marks the 11th anniversary of Southampton General Hospital’s lifesaving helipad. In 2011, the charity donated £1million to its construction and since then it has seen over 3337 landings, helping to speed up transfer times for critically ill patients with major trauma injuries and life-threatening medical conditions.

On average, that’s over six landings every week from air ambulance and coastguard helicopters on one of the busiest helipads the HELP Appeal has funded.

Before the onsite helipad was built, patients being flown to Southampton General Hospital via air ambulance had to land at playing fields nearby, before being driven the final two miles by road ambulance – a transfer that could take up to 30 minutes. When time is of the essence, this delay in accessing hospital treatment could put people’s lives in danger.

Commenting on the 11th anniversary, Robert Bertram, Chief Executive of the HELP Appeal, says:

“These huge number of landings confirm how vital this helipad has been to air ambulance patients in reducing the time it takes to access lifesaving hospital treatment. Huge thanks to our supporters to enabling the HELP Appeal to fund this and many other helipads across the country.”

Southampton General Hospital was the first of the 27 Major Trauma Centres across England to have a helipad funded by the HELP Appeal.