Mostaque Koyes
Community Awards 2019 L&D Helipad Appeal
Fundraising for The Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Charity
Story
Help build a new helipad and lift shaft to provide 24-hour access to the countries best Accident and Emergency service, so that patients are treated rapidly. Last year, Luton & Dunstable hospital received 90,000 emergency admissions, of which approximately 25% had life-threatening injuries requiring immediate and specialist medical care. We aim to help raise £1 for every one of these admissions.
The hospital helipad will serve more than 2.3 million people across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire within the crucial Golden Hour after an emergency.
Leave a legacy which will continue for generations to come and provide life-saving help for anyone in need.
There is currently no helipad providing direct access to the hospital and no 24/7 helipads specifically for Herts, Beds and Bucks. At present, while it is possible to airlift patients to the hospital, the helicopters must land in a local playing field and the patient is then transferred over the final distance by road. Air Ambulances have to travel from as far away as Northampton and Cambridgeshire to get to patients, and if the road journey from the current landing location to the hospital is deemed too risky these patients can be taken to the nearest emergency helipad - 25 miles away - rather than being brought to the L&D.
Planning permission has already been granted for the structure, work is scheduled to be carried out from the summer of 2019 and the scheme could be operational as early as summer 2020.
To find out more, visit: www.ldh.nhs.uk/helipad