University Hospital in Coventry to officially become a Major Trauma Centre on Monday (March 26)

10:40 22/03/2012

From Monday (March 26) University Hospital in Coventry officially becomes a major trauma centre.

This means there will now be 24 hour on site consultant cover at University Hospital in Coventry whereas previously consultants were on call.

This move is part of a new region-wide system consisting of three trauma care networks, each with a major trauma centre at the heart of the network and supported by the air ambulance/ambulance services, trauma units, local emergency hospitals, specialist rehabilitation and many other associated healthcare professionals. It is estimated that this new system could save between 45 and 60 lives a year in the West Midlands.

The West Midlands is the first region in England, following London’s launch in April 2010, to go live with its new trauma care system that will help to save the lives of those people with the most severe life threatening injuries. This includes major head injuries and severe knife and gunshot wounds.

The three adult major trauma centres are: Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, University Hospital in Coventry and University Hospital North Staffordshire and the children’s major trauma centre is the Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Dr Matthew Wyse, Consultant Anaesthetist and Clinical Lead for Major Trauma Service at UHCW NHS Trust said: “The massive benefit for the new system is that patients will not have to be transferred elsewhere while still critically ill for care as we have all of this on one site including trauma specialists, neurosurgery, neurology and radiology.

“We are fortunate that we have effectively been working as the major trauma centre for Coventry and Warwickshire for several years as so we know our local patients have already been benefiting from these skills.

“By officially becoming a Major Trauma Centre we can now continue this work with others to ensure all trauma patients receive the high quality care they need which can be the difference between life and death.”

Independent data from the Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) shows that University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust is currently one of the top performing hospitals in England, for every 100 severely injured patients, an extra three will survive in Coventry because of the expertise and facilities. The hospital also has the CT scanner next to the resuscitation department in the Emergency Department so we can scans patients quicker.

This is a national requirement in the NHS Operating Framework in England 2011/12 that all regions should be moving trauma service provision into regional trauma systems to make significant improvements in the clinical outcomes for major trauma patients.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS PRESS RELEASE PLEASE CONTACT KERRY BEADLING, HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS, ON 02476 967597

Notes for the Editor

There are three trauma care systems covering the West Midlands are:

• Birmingham, Black Country and Herefordshire and Worcestershire Network extends across Birmingham, Sandwell, Solihull, Dudley, Wolverhampton and Herefordshire and Worcestershire

The adult Major Trauma Centre is Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham

Specialist Rehabilitation: Moseley Hall Hospital and Oswestry Spinal Centre

Trauma Units: Russell’s Hall; Hereford; Heartlands, New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton; Sandwell Hospital; City Hospital, Birmingham; Walsall; Alexandra Hospital, Redditch; Worcester Royal.

Local Emergency Hospitals: Good Hope and Solihull

 

• North West Midlands Network will cover North and South Staffordshire and Shropshire. The network may extend into parts of Wales and possibly further North West.

The North West Midlands’s adult major trauma centre is University Hospital of North Staffordshire.

Specialist Rehabilitation: Haywood and Oswestry Spinal Centre.

Trauma Units: Royal Shrewsbury and Leighton in Crewe.

Local Emergency Hospitals: Telford and Stafford.

 

• Central England’s Network covers Coventry and Warwickshire and parts of Northamptonshire.

The Central England’s adult Major Trauma Centre is the University Hospital in Coventry.

Specialist Rehabilitation: Royal Leamington Spa Hospital and Oswestry.

Local Emergency Hospitals: George Eliot; South Warwickshire;

Trauma Units: Kettering (awaiting confirmation) and Northampton (awaiting confirmation)

The Birmingham Children’s Hospital is the regional major trauma centre for children and works with all three networks.

West Midlands Ambulance Service works across all three trauma networks. East Midlands Ambulance Service will also take patients into University Hospital in Coventry.

The system is supported by three air ambulance services: Midlands Air Ambulance; Warwickshire and Northants Air Ambulance and North West Air Ambulance

 

What is major trauma?

Major trauma is defined as serious injuries which threaten life including:

• above the knee amputation;
• major head injuries;
• multiple injuries, both internal and external;
• spinal injury, which could lead to paralysis;
• severe knife and gunshot wounds.

Patients with major trauma are those with serious, multiple injuries that require 24 hours a day and 7 days a week emergency access to a wide range of clinical services and specialist staff. For example doctors may be required to attend to a patient with head and neck injuries, chest, pelvis and other bone fractures.

What are clinical networks?

Clinical networks are used to deliver locally integrated services that are of consistently high quality. They are made up of clinicians including doctors and nurses and ensure that there is greater collaboration between services regionally whilst retaining strong local clinical and public engagement. They are committed to supporting the patient’s journey from the scene of the incident right through to rehabilitation.

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