UK HELP Appeal makes second grant to Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham

UK HELP Appeal makes second grant to Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham

19-Oct-2015 Source: Nottingham Hospitals Charity

Nottingham Hospitals Charity’s Saving Lives Helipad Appeal has received a significant boost thanks to another generous donation from the HELP Appeal.

Launched in July 2014, the Saving Lives Helipad Appeal is raising £3 million to build an onsite helipad at Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC), so that critically-injured patients can be transferred to the East Midlands Major Trauma Centre more quickly than current arrangements allow.

The HELP Appeal supports the building and updating of helipads around the country, so that all Major Trauma Centres and key A&E hospitals can have their own helipads in the future. And the £0.25 million donation is just the second in a series of pledged donations that they’re planning to make towards the Saving Lives Helipad Appeal.

Currently, patients being taken to QMC by air ambulance have to complete their journey by road, adding precious minutes to their transfer. Having a dedicated, onsite helipad will reduce this transfer time, getting the most seriously-injured patients from across the region directly to the Major Trauma Centre where specialist teams are available, 24/7, to save lives.

Chief Executive of the HELP Appeal, Robert Bertram said: “Knowing the huge difference this life-saving helipad will have for critically ill patients, we are pleased to make our second grant payment of £250,000.

“Using an air ambulance to bypass traffic jams and rise above speed limits is only part of the equation when trying to save a patient’s life. Enabling them to land on a hospital helipad beside the expert care they urgently need within the Golden Hour, could mean the difference between life and death.

“But none of this would be possible without donations from the general public, who have helped us take another significant step closer to building the helipad.”

Lesley Knight knows only too well the importance of having an accessible helipad landing site close to a Major Trauma unit. Her 11 year old son Thomas died following a road traffic accident outside their home in Staffordshire in 2008. Despite a quick transfer to Birmingham Children’s Hospital by helicopter they were unable to land on a designated helipad at the hospital. Lesley is supporting the drive to get dedicated helipads at all Major Trauma hospitals, nationally.

Lesley said: “The team of paramedics, nurses and doctors made every effort to try and save my lovely boy. Unfortunately he did not survive; his injuries were far too severe and there was nothing that anyone could have done to save his life. I have learned from experience how important it is that hospitals have a helipad for the air ambulances to land on. An on-site helipad compliments the whole air ambulance service, helping to save lives by saving time.”

Barbara Cathcart, Chief Executive of Nottingham Hospitals Charity said: “We are tremendously grateful to the HELP Appeal for their second generous donation; helping us to get a step closer to our life-saving helipad at Queens Medical Centre. As an Air Ambulance organisation they understand first-hand the need to transfer emergency patients to our highly skilled Major Trauma team as quickly as possible. Major Trauma can happen to anyone, at any time – in an emergency, every second counts. This generous funding boost will make a huge difference to our helipad appeal and help us to save time and lives.”

About the Saving Lives Helipad Appeal

QMC took on the important responsibility of becoming the Major Trauma Centre for the East Midlands in 2012, considerably widening its catchment area for emergency patients as a result. Currently, there is no dedicated landing pad for emergency patients at QMC, with helicopters having to land close by and patients complete their journey to hospital by road.

Like the air ambulance service, the construction of helipads at hospitals receives no central funding and relies entirely on charitable donations. Nottingham Hospitals Charity’s Saving Lives Helipad Appeal is raising £3m to build a helipad at the East Midlands Major Trauma Centre. This will reduce transfer times for air ambulance patients, delivering them straight into the expert hands of specialist clinicians at the Major Trauma Centre so they can save even more lives.

About Nottingham Hospitals Charity

Nottingham Hospitals Charity supports the work that takes place at Nottingham University Hospitals’ Queen’s Medical Centre, City Hospital and Ropewalk House campuses. Donations to the Charity are used in five key areas:

• improving patient care
• enhancing the patient environment
• enabling medical research
• purchasing specialist equipment
• providing staff development programmes.

The NHS provides core funding, but donations to the Charity make a real difference to patient experience by providing highly valued extras.

With more than £4 million in generous donations last year from all sectors of the community, Nottingham Hospitals Charity has been able to work closely with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust to provide special benefits, making a significant difference to patients, their families, and staff within all areas of our Hospitals.

Nottingham Hospitals Charity welcomes enquiries from the media about the appeals it runs, the generous gifts it receives and how donations are helping patients, their families and staff throughout NUH NHS Trust.

Our registered charity number is 1059049.

About the HELP Appeal

The HELP Appeal is aiming to significantly increase the number of onsite hospital helipads through its HELP Appeal grant scheme which offers non-repayable grants to hospitals to help fund new helipads or upgrade existing helipads.

The HELP Appeal relies solely on charitable donations and does not receive a single penny in government funding or from the National Lottery.

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