London's only 24-hour hospital helipad marks a decade of saving lives

It is the team you never want to meet.

They assemble on the roof of King's College Hospital in Denmark Hill to receive the most critically ill patients, with a trauma nurse, a helideck security officer and a specially trained porter among them.

The people they care for, who arrive by helicopter, have suffered road traffic accidents, falls, strokes and heart attacks.

But since the helideck at the south London hospital opened 10 years ago, air transfers have given patients the best chance of survival because, in medical emergencies, every minute counts.

Carole Olding, lead nurse for major trauma at the hospital, said: "Having this deck has actually revolutionised how we treat people because we're treating them much quicker."

It is one of the busiest hospital helidecks in London - and the only one to operate 24 hours a day.

Before it opened in October 2016, helicopters transporting patients to the hospital had to land in neighbouring Ruskin Park.

The onward journey to the emergency department could take almost half an hour. Now the landing-to-resus transfer is said to take less than five minutes.

Malcolm Tunnicliff, clinical director for major trauma, explained: "Time really matters if you've got a brain injury.

"The quicker we can do the operation, the better chance the brain has of recovery so knocking [minutes] off really does make a difference."

To mark the 10-year anniversary, the helideck team invited BBC London to see how the system works, and to demonstrate the speed at which patients are transferred and treated.

It starts with a call from the helicopter pilot at the scene.

The red phone rings in the middle of the emergency department and will be answered by the trauma nurse on duty.

They activate the helipad and assemble the medical team.

In the control room on the ninth floor, the helideck officer is alerted. On the day we filmed, David Kassim was in charge of the security and relevant checks.

He said: "I'll speak to the pilot and he'll advise me on the ETA. I do all the safety checks and make sure there are no hazards that would prevent them from coming in and landing safely.

"I'm checking for the lighting, making sure it is operational. I'm checking to make sure that everything is legal and safe."

Meanwhile, one of the hospital lifts is switched to emergency mode, ensuring that the motorised stretcher can be brought down without delay.

The bed is prepared by one of the specially trained porters.

Olufemi Akinona, a porter at the hospital, explained that they work closely in a team.

"Only me cannot do it. And only security cannot do it. Only trauma nurse cannot do it. So the three sections will work together," he said.

He added that he will wait at the bottom of the ramp for the helicopter to land and power down.

"[The pilot] gives me the thumbs up, so I take my trolley up with my trauma team. It's not taking us two minutes - two minutes, we are already in resus."

King's is one of four major trauma centres in the capital, serving Kent as well as south-east London.

Hospital data shows that it has seen more than 2,300 landings in a decade.

Most patients are carried by the Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex.

In addition, there are regular landings of the London Air Ambulance, Essex & Herts Air Ambulance and the Children's Air Ambulance.

Olding said: "We're treating the sickest people and you can only do so much. But at least they have a chance.

"They have a greater chance than they did prior to 2010 when major trauma centres came in."

However, the helipad would not have been possible without £2.75m from the County Air Ambulance HELP Appeal and £500,000 raised by patients, staff and the local community through the King's College Hospital Charity.

Tunnicliff said: "I think the most important donors were the local people."

He said he had kept a note that was attached to a small contribution from a couple that read: "I'm sure that this will only pay for one bolt but we hope it makes a difference."

Olding added: "There were some amazing people [in and out] of King's College Hospital that were doing some of the most interesting, dangerous and most crazy things to raise money.

"You know, I would never sit in a bath of baked beans for anyone. Or abseil down the side of the Golden Jubilee Wing.

"But there were lots of people who were doing that and raising phenomenal amounts of money."

The fundraising has helped the NHS trauma team at King's get critically ill patients into hospital care more quickly over the past decade.

Akinona added: "It's so simple - just to care for life, save lives. Because it could happen to anyone."

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