Then a quick transfer and into the air. This is exciting stuff but not for the faint-hearted. The helicopter has flown over 6,500 missions and saved dozens of lives. Hundreds more have walked out of hospital sooner, or with brains that still work as a direct result of expert medical care. Yet there is growing opposition to the service.
Some doctors feel it is a costly gimmick.
They see the helicopter as a massive vacuum cleaner collecting sick people off the streets of London and taking them to the Royal London Hospital, with other hospitals later footing the bill. There has also been tension at times between road and air crews. In the early days it was not unknown for a road ambulance to rush off with a casualty, just as the helicopter was hovering overhead, even though the nearest specialist unit was miles away. Then came an unfortunate remark by a coroner a few weeks ago suggesting that a woman would not have died if she had been carried by road - the truth was that she was mortally ill anyway. But the study design made true comparisons difficult, and it failed to measure other benefits.