This month marks the fourth anniversary of the opening of Maidstone Hospital’s helipad, which was officially launched in 2019 by HRH The Princess Royal. Since then, it has seen 158 landings from a range of emergency services including Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex and the Children’s Air Ambulance.
The HELP Appeal donated the entire £300,000 needed to build the all-weather helipad at the rear of the oncology unit. It replaced the temporary site, which was often water-logged.
Over the past four years, the helipad has helped to improve the life chances of critically ill or injured patients being brought to Maidstone Hospital for care or flown from the hospital to specialist centres elsewhere in the country for treatment.
As Robert Bertram, Chief Executive of the HELP Appeal explains:
“No matter what time of the day or night, this state-of-the-art helipad has been able to accommodate air ambulance landings since 2019 thanks to the HELP Appeal donation, which was only made possible because of our generous supporters.”
Sean Briggs, Chief Operating Officer at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, said:
“We are proud to be celebrating four years since the official opening of the helipad at Maidstone Hospital, and want to take this opportunity to thank the HELP Appeal again for their incredible donation. This facility ensures we can provide the right care at the right time for our patients in conjunction with some of our brilliant partner organisations’.
To date the HELP Appeal has funded 45 helipads which have seen over 26,000 landings but we have another 50 helipad projects in the pipeline. To help us build more NHS hospital helipads across the country, you can donate here.
