University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) hosted a meeting with key stakeholders to update them on progress to establish the Trust as a Major Trauma Centre (MTC) for the region.

The network event was an opportunity for colleagues in neighbouring healthcare organisations to help develop an action plan to implement and support the new system.

The aim is to create a specialist major trauma system with dedicated centres of excellence within a supporting network, providing specialist doctors and nurses who are trained to deal with major trauma and available 24-7.

UHB would be one of three MTCs in the West Midlands, working closely with Birmingham Children’s Hospital which would provide a paediatric major trauma service. The other centres would be University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire and University Hospitals of North Staffordshire.

Sir Keith Porter, Professor of Clinical Traumatology at UHB, who is leading the project, told the audience: “There’s always been an under-provision of funding and differing provision of treatment for trauma. There’s been no historical change in the service since 1954.

“This initiative is all about a culture of developing integration and cross-cultivation of specialties to produce the best possible care for our trauma patients.”

The UHB meeting, held at the Postgraduate Medical Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, was introduced by Kevin Bolger, UHB’s Chief Operating Officer.

“Our aim tonight is to develop relationships which will be important when we eventually establish the trauma care system,” he said. “The next time we meet we will be sitting down as a network.”

Prof Porter brought the delegates up to date with the progress made so far and the rationale behind the new network.

He referred to the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) report in 2007, which highlighted deficiencies in care provided to severely injured patients in England.

Based on the evidence from overseas trauma care systems, the West Midlands could expect to see an additional 40 – 60 patients surviving a major trauma incident per year following the implementation of the proposed trauma care systems, he said: “This is all about a cross-fertilisation of expertise, education, research. We want to ensure that we save more lives and significantly improve people’s chances of making the fullest recovery possible.”

Sue Gadd, from the West Midlands Specialised Commissioning Team, which has recommended the three-centre MTC model to the West Midlands Strategic Commissioning Group (WMSCG), outlined the regional perspective and guidelines in developing the service.

Randeep Kular, UHB’s MTC Project Manager then spoke about the work being carried out by the Trust, both internally and externally, to ensure both staff and public engagement and involvement.

“We will also be working closely with the other MTCs, in Coventry and Stoke (and University Hospitals of North Staffordshire), and talking to colleagues in London to find out what they did for the first trauma system in England.

Following the presentations, there was a discussion around capacity potential, maintaining flow of patients and creating an open access policy with a single point of contact within the MTC and their "feeder" Trauma Unit hospitals.

The role of social care and rehabilitation support was also debated with an assurance that UHB is working with Social Services to set up social care packages post-discharge.