St Mary’s adopts army tactics to save lives of gun and knife victims

 
St Mary's Hospital, London.
PA
21 October 2013

One of London’s main trauma hospitals is using techniques developed by British medics in Afghanistan to help victims of shootings and stabbings.

St Mary’s in Paddington minimises the time in its resuscitation room and takes casualties direct to the operating theatre for surgery to stem bleeding and improve their chances of survival and a better recovery.

The hospital, one of four major trauma units in the capital, is believed to be the first UK hospital to implement the protocol developed at Camp Bastion, though a similar system is used at the Royal London.

It was introduced after military doctors were hosted by St Mary’s and demonstrated the importance of rapid intervention in the most serious cases.

Major Danny Sharpe, an Army trainee in emergency medicine who has been at St Mary’s for the past two years, said: “We know that stopping bleeding quickly improves survival and most of the cases managed in this way will involve critically unstable patients who are at risk of bleeding to death without very quick action. I am really pleased to have been able to work with St Mary’s Hospital to bring this into the civilian medical world to help increase patients’ chances of survival after suffering serious injuries.”

The protocol — rapid resuscitation transit — aims to reduce the “knife to skin” time between arrival at the emergency department and surgery. Operations can start within 30 minutes.

Medical tests are limited to the most crucial checks, such as taking a single blood sample and carrying out vital scans. The theatre team are given action cards when they are mobilised to receive the casualty.

Michael Jenkins, lead clinician for St Mary’s major trauma centre, said: “The crucial thing is to try to reduce the time to theatre so that the source of bleeding can be surgically targeted as soon as possible in the hope of improving the patient’s survival and recovery.”

The establishment of major trauma units at St Mary’s, the Royal London, St George’s and King’s College hospitals has saved an additional 58 lives a year, according to NHS England London. The trauma network ensures ambulances bypass “local” hospitals to deliver serious casualties to specialist units.

Military doctors often work in the NHS when not required on active duty.

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