News
Major trauma network could save up to 40 lives a year Four specialist emergency care centres are expected to be set up across Scotland before 2016
Government asks whistleblowers to follow guidance HEALTH SECRETARY Jeremy Hunt is urging nurses to refer to a 12-point guide to whistleblowing if they want to raise concerns about poor practice. The guidance, from NHS Employers, states that staff should raise concerns at the earliest opportunity, think about first discussing them informally and find out if other workers share their concerns. The move by Mr Hunt follows his appointment of former emergency nurse Helene Donnelly as national adviser on raising concerns. Ms Donnelly reported the mistreatment of patients at Stafford Hospital. Find out more Details on the whistleblowing guide are available at tinyurl.com/blow-whistle-guide EMERGENCY NURSE
The centres will form part of a national major trauma network in which expert teams with access to specialist facilities can assess and treat patients as soon as possible. According to the Scottish Government, major trauma includes: multiple injuries to different parts of the body, major head injury, severe knife and gunshot wounds, spinal injury, traumatic injury requiring amputation of a limb, and severe burns. Local hospitals Staff in local hospitals will continue to care for people with less serious injuries, such as fractures and minor head injuries, and for a few major trauma cases, for example when patients cannot reach one of the major trauma centres reasonably quickly. Such hospitals will also provide ongoing care and rehabilitation of patients.
Hand in glove with Jedward THE STANDARD hospital glove has its uses as a distraction technique with children, researchers found after testing the ‘Jedward’ against the ‘Mohawk’. Staff at the emergency department of the National Children’s Hospital, Dublin, undertook a prospective study with 149 children aged between two and eight years by giving them the option of playing with one of two glove balloons, each with a different kind of face drawn on it. Eoin Fogarty and colleagues found that, of the 136 who picked a glove to play with, 75 (55%) chose one that looks like Irish singing duo Jedward and 61 (45%) chose one called the Mohawk. The results, which were published in the March issue of Emergency Medicine Journal, conclude that inflated gloves work as distraction tools, especially if they look like Jedward.
Helen Jones
By Nick Lipley THE SCOTTISH Government has announced plans to set up four major trauma centres as part of a network of specialist emergency care. The four centres will be operational from 2016 and will offer potentially life-saving treatment to around 1,200 patients a year. By speeding up access to specialist care and treatment, they are expected to save up to 40 lives a year. The centres will be at: Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, which is part of NHS Lothian; Aberdeen Royal Infirmary; Ninewells Hospital, Dundee; and the Southern General Hospital, Glasgow. Health secretary Alex Neil announced the plans during a visit to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, where he met patient representative Peter McCarron.
Speaking as he visited the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Mr Neil said: ‘This network of specialist centres will ensure that patients can be taken directly to the most appropriate places for treatment, and will reduce any delay in receiving the treatment they need. ‘The national network will involve the Scottish Ambulance Service, specialist major trauma centres and local hospitals working together to make a real difference to the lives of seriously injured people.’ Mr McCarron, a patient representative on the Scottish Trauma Audit Group steering group, helped shape the plans. He said: ‘Each trauma has to be treated according to what the individual requires, and complex methods are needed to ensure that each patient survives and has a reasonable standard of life afterwards.’ NHS Lothian clinical director of emergency medicine Dave Caesar said: ‘The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh emergency department is the biggest adult-receiving unit in Scotland, and it thrives on delivering true emergency critical care.’ Mr Caesar added that the ED has an ‘opportunity to improve the practical, clinical and non-technical skills required to manage these challenging patients’.
Children prefer the Jedward, above, to the Mohawk, inset
May 2014 | Volume 22 | Number 2
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 12, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Major trauma network could save up to 40 lives a year Four specialist emergency care centres are expected to be set up across Scotland before 2016
Government asks whistleblowers to follow guidance HEALTH SECRETARY Jeremy Hunt is urging nurses to refer to a 12-point guide to whistleblowing if they want to raise concerns about poor practice. The guidance, from NHS Employers, states that staff should raise concerns at the earliest opportunity, think about first discussing them informally and find out if other workers share their concerns. The move by Mr Hunt follows his appointment of former emergency nurse Helene Donnelly as national adviser on raising concerns. Ms Donnelly reported the mistreatment of patients at Stafford Hospital. Find out more Details on the whistleblowing guide are available at tinyurl.com/blow-whistle-guide EMERGENCY NURSE
The centres will form part of a national major trauma network in which expert teams with access to specialist facilities can assess and treat patients as soon as possible. According to the Scottish Government, major trauma includes: multiple injuries to different parts of the body, major head injury, severe knife and gunshot wounds, spinal injury, traumatic injury requiring amputation of a limb, and severe burns. Local hospitals Staff in local hospitals will continue to care for people with less serious injuries, such as fractures and minor head injuries, and for a few major trauma cases, for example when patients cannot reach one of the major trauma centres reasonably quickly. Such hospitals will also provide ongoing care and rehabilitation of patients.
Hand in glove with Jedward THE STANDARD hospital glove has its uses as a distraction technique with children, researchers found after testing the ‘Jedward’ against the ‘Mohawk’. Staff at the emergency department of the National Children’s Hospital, Dublin, undertook a prospective study with 149 children aged between two and eight years by giving them the option of playing with one of two glove balloons, each with a different kind of face drawn on it. Eoin Fogarty and colleagues found that, of the 136 who picked a glove to play with, 75 (55%) chose one that looks like Irish singing duo Jedward and 61 (45%) chose one called the Mohawk. The results, which were published in the March issue of Emergency Medicine Journal, conclude that inflated gloves work as distraction tools, especially if they look like Jedward.
Helen Jones
By Nick Lipley THE SCOTTISH Government has announced plans to set up four major trauma centres as part of a network of specialist emergency care. The four centres will be operational from 2016 and will offer potentially life-saving treatment to around 1,200 patients a year. By speeding up access to specialist care and treatment, they are expected to save up to 40 lives a year. The centres will be at: Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, which is part of NHS Lothian; Aberdeen Royal Infirmary; Ninewells Hospital, Dundee; and the Southern General Hospital, Glasgow. Health secretary Alex Neil announced the plans during a visit to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, where he met patient representative Peter McCarron.
Speaking as he visited the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Mr Neil said: ‘This network of specialist centres will ensure that patients can be taken directly to the most appropriate places for treatment, and will reduce any delay in receiving the treatment they need. ‘The national network will involve the Scottish Ambulance Service, specialist major trauma centres and local hospitals working together to make a real difference to the lives of seriously injured people.’ Mr McCarron, a patient representative on the Scottish Trauma Audit Group steering group, helped shape the plans. He said: ‘Each trauma has to be treated according to what the individual requires, and complex methods are needed to ensure that each patient survives and has a reasonable standard of life afterwards.’ NHS Lothian clinical director of emergency medicine Dave Caesar said: ‘The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh emergency department is the biggest adult-receiving unit in Scotland, and it thrives on delivering true emergency critical care.’ Mr Caesar added that the ED has an ‘opportunity to improve the practical, clinical and non-technical skills required to manage these challenging patients’.
Children prefer the Jedward, above, to the Mohawk, inset
May 2014 | Volume 22 | Number 2
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 12, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
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