A pioneering and award-winning project which has changed the way fire fighters treat burns victims has begun again at Birmingham’s newest and largest hospital.

Two fire fighters from West Midlands Fire Service spent a full day in the Burns Centre at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB), seeing how doctors and nurses treat the most seriously injured burns patients in the region.

The project was initially run at the Burns Unit at Selly Oak Hospital, and won a prestigious Health Service Journal (HSJ) Patient Safety Award for improving how fire crews work at the scene of an incident.

New equipment, techniques and procedures have been implemented, including placing patients on clean cotton sheets for first aid, using cling film to protect wounds and prioritising the cooling of burns.

The project was suspended while the Selly Oak unit was transferred to QEHB. On Monday 1 November, Nigel Wood, from the Tipton station, and Dave Hardaker, from the Wolverhampton station, became the first two fire fighters to resume this important project at the new hospital.

Dave, who spent time shadowing nurses in A&E, Burns and Critical Care at Selly Oak Hospital, was impressed with the QEHB’s facilities: “It nice to see the new unit, and everything seems to be really well set out. There’s a lot more equipment and faculties in the rooms so they don’t have to move the patients out to theatre all the time.

“This is the gold standard for burns care now; it’s very impressive.

“Being able to come in and work with these guys is great, because we can learn so much about how we can influence a patient’s long-term condition by what we do at an incident.”

Nigel echoed those sentiments: “It’s been very worthwhile coming in today, because we’ve seen procedures we’ve never seen before, so we’ve learned a lot and have a lot of ideas to take back with us.”

UHB’s Margaret Gately, who was matron for burns when the project was originally set up, said: "This project was extremely valuable for UHB burns staff and for West Midlands Fire Service, so it's great to be able to re-start it here at the new hospital. The fire fighters get to see how we work with the patients, some of whom are very seriously burned and will have been treated first by fire fighters.

"The fire fighters who have worked with us have been highly professional and eager to learn, and they also bring a fresh approach to the work. Ultimately, this is about helping patients and making sure they get the best possible treatment at all stages of their care."