Ambulance UK October 2020

NEWSLINE
a helipad so close to our highly
Patients were previously flown to
Measuring 30 metres by 30
£600,000 helipad
operational at Hull
Royal Infirmary
Helicopters are now able to fly
critically ill and injured patients
directly to Hull Royal Infirmary
after its new £600,000 helipad
was declared operational.
Hull University Teaching Hospitals
NHS Trust has completed the
major construction project
so patients seriously hurt in
accidents across East and North
Yorkshire and parts of Lincolnshire
can be flown into the hospital
grounds, the Major Trauma Centre
(MTC) for the area.
The helipad, behind Hull Royal
Infirmary’s £12m Emergency
Department (ED), had been
funded entirely by the HELP
Appeal, the only charity in the
country dedicated to funding NHS
hospital helipads.
Trust Chief Executive Chris
Long said: “We are deeply
grateful to the HELP Appeal for
its £600,000 donation which
has allowed us to construct
the helipad directly behind our
Emergency Department.
skilled major trauma team means
we will be able to save more lives
in situations where every second
counts.”
Robert Bertram, Chief Executive
of the HELP Appeal, said:
“As the Major Trauma Centre
for the whole region, funding
a helipad outside ED was
essential. Everyone is aware of
the vital roles that hospitals and
air ambulances play in treating
a critically ill patient but having
a helipad outside the ED can
play a significant part in saving
vital minutes when transporting
a patient to the expert care they
need to save lives.
“As the only charity in the country
funding live-saving helipads, we
are pleased to be able to cover
the entire cost of the helipad.
We know the difference having a
ground-level helipad right outside
ED would make.
“With the support of the air
ambulances and the excellent
emergency care team at Hull
Royal Infirmary, this unique mix of
helicopters, helipad and hospital
medical staff will make a huge
difference to those people who
may need life-saving treatment
the helipad on the other side of
the hospital car park on Argyle
Street and had to be transferred
to Hull Royal in an ambulance
along Anlaby Road, one of the
busiest roads in the city centre.
Intensive Care Consultant Dr
Tom Cowlam, the trust’s clinical
lead for the MTC, said: “The new
helipad will shorten the journey
by a quarter of an hour and
remove the need for the patient
to be transferred in a second
ambulance to the Emergency
Department.
“It will make the transfer quicker
and more seamless for the trauma
patient.
“When you have a really poorly
person, this might be the
difference between life and death
because this could be the time
when they are having surgery or a
massive blood transfusion to save
them.”
Duncan Taylor, Director of Estates,
Facilities and Development, said
the trust funded the demolition
of the Haughton building among
others and clearance of the site
before main contractor Unico
Construction could begin work on
metres, 900 tonnes of concrete
were brought onto the hospital
site, over the course of one day.
An access road for fire engines
and service vehicles has been
built alongside a second
pedestrian route where patients
will be carried out of the air
ambulance and rushed into the
ED.
Special double fences have been
erected around the helipad as
“baffles” to reduce noise pollution,
provide security and the majority
of the site has been turfed with
pinned grass covered with mesh
overlay to act as a “soakaway” to
remove water from the helipad.
Lights have been imported
from Holland to be set into
the concrete, now covered in
specialist paint.
Hull is one of the country’s 27
Major Trauma Centres (MTCs),
credited with saving an additional
1,600 people’s lives since they
were established in 2012.
Lincs and Nott Air Ambulance
use the Hull helipad most often,
with Yorkshire Air Ambulance
and Derbyshire, Leicester and
Rutland Air Ambulance also flying
casualties to the city.
“There is no doubt that having
urgently.”
the helipad.
The Search and Rescue
helicopter, based at Humberside
Airport, also lands in Hull with
people winched off mountains or
those injured on oil rigs or out at
sea.
AMBULANCE UK - OCTOBER
The helipad will also be used by
the Children’s Air Ambulance,
which can fly specialist medical
teams into Hull to treat seriously
ill children as well as fly children
from here to hospital with
specialist paediatric services.
To support the HELP Appeal
please call the donation helpline
on 0800 389 8999 or text HPAD22
plus the amount and send to
70070.
154
For further recruitment vacancies visit: www.ambulanceukonline.com