London's first night-flying ambulance to save lives in ‘county’ drug wars

Victims of “county lines” drugs gangs are likely to benefit from London’s first night-flying medical helicopter, doctors said today.

The helipad at King’s College Hospital, in Denmark Hill, began receiving patients at night last month, with flights operated by Kent, Surrey and Sussex (KSS) Air Ambulance.

Kent has seen a 152 per cent rise in knife crime since 2010 which police and doctors believe is linked to urban drugs gangs moving into provincial towns.

Dr Malcolm Tunnicliff, clinical director and consultant in emergency medicine at King’s, said: “Traditionally, more rural county-based HEMS [helicopter emergency medical services] does not see much penetrating trauma.

“In the last six months to a year, we have seen a huge increase in the penetrating trauma we attend to in places like Ashford and Maidstone.”

He added: “With penetrating trauma, we need to get people off quickly to a [major trauma] centre that has cardiothoracics, and we can now do that. For the people of Kent, it was an hour or two-hour journey in the back of an ambulance. Now we can do it in minutes.”

Lambeth council last month granted King’s permission to trial night landings — between 9pm and 7am — for 12 months. It means patients can be flown from towns such as Margate and Ramsgate in 25 minutes. There have been three night landings so far, all involving patients with serious head injuries.

Road crashes are expected to be the main reason for a helicopter mission at night but gang violence is a growing concern. Rob Bentley, clinical director of South East London, Kent and Medway trauma network and a surgeon at King’s, said: “People think about London having social deprivation but, if you look at the Medway towns, there are many areas of Kent that have high unemployment and social deprivation.

“These are currently areas that are targeted by county lines for distribution of drugs. With that comes attendant risks of serious violence and knife crime.” KSS Air Ambulance has two helicopters based at Redhill. Pilots use night-vision goggles. Each mission costs about £3,700 and the charity has to raise about £11 million a year.

Almost 500 patients have been brought to King’s by helicopter since its £9.6 million helipad opened in 2016.

The helipads at The Royal London, in Whitechapel, and St George’s, in Tooting, do not operate at night.