NHS Major Trauma Improvement Forum (MTIF) needs you!
April 26, 2010
The NHS wants to hear from people who have direct experience of major trauma. This includes patients, families and carers, and professionals who look after major trauma patients at all stages of their experience, from the initial incident through to rehabilitation. They also want to hear from organisations and groups who represent patients, different professional groups, or who have another involvement in major trauma (for example insurers or lawyers).
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Major trauma is caused by events such as road traffic accidents, industrial accidents, falls, or stabbings and refers to multiple injuries, often involving several organs and parts of the body.
Reviews of the quality of care given to major trauma patients show that quality can be improved and lives can be saved. The purpose of the Major Trauma Improvement Forum (MTIF) is to hear from major trauma patients, their family and carers, and patient groups, as well as frontline professionals and relevant organisations, about their experiences and suggestions for improvements.
Serious injuries (major trauma) have a high personal impact on patients and families. There are approximately 34,000 people with such life changing physical injury each year in England of whom 11,000 reach hospital with a significant threat to life; over 3000 die a year after arrival at hospital.
Historically, the low frequency and unpredictability of these major trauma events has meant that the medical services to deal with them have had a lack of primacy. To date NHS improvements have focused on the larger numbers of patients visiting A&E departments with lesser injuries and medical conditions like heart attacks, stroke and asthma. Over 90% of hospitals will receive less than one patient with major trauma a week and even then they may be very different; some patients suffer a severe brain injury, others spinal, pelvic or limb fractures and others damage to internal organs or a combination of such injuries. This complexity and rarity is compounded by the fact that the very specialist services like neurosurgery and spine surgery are only present in 1 in 10 hospitals. So it is important to make sure these critically injured people are taken to those specialist hospitals as rapidly and safely as possible where they can receive that care.
The NHS wants to move towards the creation of inclusive networks of ambulance and hospital services so that patients with life threatening or life changing injuries will move to an appropriate major trauma centre with the right specialists and equipment to provide definitive care and to restore an active life and employment through coordinated rehabilitation. This transfer may either be directly from the scene under medically supported guidance or via a local hospital trauma unit if clinical or geographic needs dictate.The NHS says this work is vital to improve major trauma services and improve outcomes for patients who suffer from major trauma
It is critical that the NHS has the views of patients, carers, frontline staff, charities and professional organisations who are involved in delivery of, or have experienced, major trauma services. The NHS wants to know from you first-hand what the challenges, barriers and opportunities are in trying to improve NHS services.
You can give your view at the NHS choices Major Trauma Improvement Forum website.