Cascade Summer/Autumn 2012 - Plymouth Hospitals

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cascade_summer_2012_1.5:Cascade_Winter_2011 23/10/2012 13:46 Page 4 4 Hospital Officially Becomes the Peninsula Major Trauma Centre On Monday 2 April 2012 Derriford Hospital officially became the Peninsula Trauma Centre. This move is part of a new region-wide system in the south west, consisting of two trauma care networks, each with a major trauma centre at the heart of the network and supported by the ambulance and air ambulances services, trauma units, local acute hospitals, specialist rehabilitation and many other associated healthcare professionals. It is estimated that this new system could save several lives per year in the west country alone. The two adult major trauma centres in the west country are the Peninsula Trauma Centre at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth and Frenchay Hospital in Bristol. The children’s major trauma centre will be at the Frenchay Hospital, although life-saving facilities for children are available at Derriford Hospital and throughout the region. What is major trauma? Major trauma is defined as serious injuries which threaten life including: • major head injuries; • multiple injuries, both internal and external; • spinal injury, which could lead to paralysis; • severe knife and gunshot wounds; • above the knee amputation. Patients with major trauma are those with serious, multiple injuries that require 24 hours a day, 7 days a week emergency access to a wide range of clinical services and specialist staff. Dr Elfyn Thomas, Clinical Lead for Major Trauma and Consultant In Intensive Care Medicine at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust said: “One of the biggest benefits of this new system is that severely injured patients will, wherever possible, be transferred directly to the major trauma centre for care, as we have everything they need all on our site, including trauma specialists, neurosurgery, cardiothoracics, intensive care and radiology. News from around the Trust “By becoming the major trauma centre we can work with our colleagues throughout the peninsula to ensure that all trauma patients receive the highest quality care, which can often make the difference between life and death.” Dr Iain Grant, Network Lead for Major Trauma, added: “Independent data from the Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) shows that Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust is currently one of the top 10 performing major trauma centres in England. For every 100 severely injured patients, an extra two and a half will survive in Devon and Cornwall because of the expertise and facilities available. Derriford Hospital and the local commissioners are currently looking at various schemes to enhance trauma care within both the Trust and the Network.” A map showing the new trauma centre network
cascade_summer_2012_1.5:Cascade_Winter_2011 23/10/2012 13:46 Page 5 5News from around the Trust Peninsula Trauma Rehabilitation Prescription A key component and requirement for the Major Trauma Centre is for all patients to be discharged with a Rehabilitation Prescription to ensure patients receive the rehabilitation they need. The Trust has now been using this prescription for two months. At the end of April our Major Trauma Centre had the highest successful completion of the Rehabilitation Prescription - a huge achievement. This has been delivered by some really dedicated staff. Jude Fewings has co-ordinated and led the project for the Trust and has developed a professional document which has received favourable comments nationally. It could not have been done without the enormous assistance of the Trauma Nurse Co-ordinators Gemma Westran, Sharon Warne and Matthew Rawlins, who in the early days helped to firmly embed the new process and Julian Shafee the Trauma Network co-ordinator for helping with the many, many tweaks to the paper work. Back row L - R: Elfyn Thomas, Consultant; Sarah Godfree, Occupational Therapist; Katy Law, Physiotherapist; Jen Kingman, Speech and Language Therapist; Katie Ferns, Occupational Therapist Front row L - R: Emma McCulloch, Occupational Therapist; Matt Rawlins - Trauma Nurse Co-ordinator; Jude Fewings, Consultant Physiotherapist; Sharon Warne, Trauma Nurse Co-ordinator The development and the delivery of the prescription are down to our Allied Health Professionals on the wards. The bulk of the day to day completion falls to our physiotherapists, but everyone, Occupational Therapy, Nutrition and Dietetics and Speech and Language Therapy, are involved in the rehabilitation prescription and are sharing the responsibility for delivering completed prescriptions for our patients. Rehabilitation Prescriptions will need to be completed for patients on every transfer of their care in the future and so work will now start with the Trauma Units and our community colleagues to develop documentation fit for every stage of the patient’s journey. We are also keen for the nursing transfer documentation to be included with it so that the documentation identifies all of our patients needs on transfer. Unwanted motorcycle leathers, jackets or boots needed! The Peninsula Trauma Network is providing dedicated additional training to its trauma teams. They use the latest electronic mannequins to train but these need appropriate clothing. Motorcycle clothes will often need to be cut off and so they need to learn how to do this quickly and efficiently. If you can donate any of the above old clothing please contact Julian Shafee, Trauma Network Co-ordinator on 01752 437653 or julian.shafee@nhs.net
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Cascade Summer/Autumn 2012 - Plymouth Hospitals

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