A long awaited event for Southampton General Hospital, and for HIOWAA, took place today.  The new Helipad, which has been built on the multi story car park, opened with the first landing by the HIOWAA aircraft.  There were many people there to see it, including members of the Hampshire media, and individuals from both SGH and the Help Appeal, who had been instrumental in bringing the helipad to fruition.

The crew of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance came in to land on the new helipad at exactly 10.00am on Thursday 17th Nov 2011, and were called out again almost immediately to a genuine mission, a transfer from the Isle of Wight.

This facility at SGH will prove to be an enormous advantage to the people of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, by cutting anything up to half an hour off their journey to hospital, as the transfer by land ambulance from the secondary landing site at Lordshill is no longer necessary.  This will have a dramatic impact on the outcomes for patients.  More information about the helipad can be found here.