New Specialist Trauma Consultants
David Ahearne
Trauma, Hand, Wrist & Shoulder Specialist
Mr Naresh Somashekar
Trauma, Knee Specialist
Jackie Waterman
Trauma, Hand, Wrist & Elbow Specialist
Htwe Zaw
Trauma, Foot & Ankle Specialist
Trauma
Transforming Trauma
Over the past year we have
been transforming our
trauma service at the Trust, with
the mission to be ‘recognised
as a centre of excellence for
normal trauma’.
Surgical trauma is the treatment of
injuries such as bone fractures. In
April 2009, trauma was placed high
on the agenda for the NHS with
Professor Keith Willett appointed
as the first National Clinical
Director of Trauma Care. In May
2010, the Trust followed his lead
by furthering our trauma services
from half day to ‘all day trauma
operating’.
Multi-disciplinary team
At the same time, a trauma multidisciplinary
team (MDT) was set up
and led by Mr Htwe Zaw, bringing together a
representative from each core part
of the patient pathway to tackle
and improve on trauma issues.
As an
example, patients with
fractured neck of femur
(FNOF - means fractured
thigh bone) should be
operated on within 36
hours of arrival wherever
possible. This injury
usually affects people
over the age of 60 and
this group of patients
comprised 16 per cent of
all trauma cases at the
Trust in 2010/2011. The work of our Trauma MDT
means that we now regularly hit
the gold standard of between 80
per cent and 90 per cent of all
FNOF patients operated on within
36 hours of arrival (see graph).
Reducing waiting times
This improvement has been echoed
throughout the whole of trauma.
All day trauma operating has now reduced the average time of arrival to operation of all trauma from 78 hours to 43 hours, providing both improved clinical outcomes for trauma patients and huge efficiency savings in terms of length of stay (LOS).
The recruitment of new specialist hand, wrist, foot and ankle surgeons to the Trauma Team now provides a full complement of specialist surgeons to allow the treatment of all Trauma & Orthopaedic injuries locally through The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Hillingdon Trauma Facts 2010/11
- 1120 Operations over a year
- 21% Fracture of forearm, wrist & hand
- 16% Fracture of femur
- 15% Fracture of lower leg, foot & ankle
- 8% Fracture of shoulder & upper arm
- 40% Other; wounds, sprains, dislocation
Major trauma
In 2010 the new London Trauma
System went live with St Mary's Major Trauma Centre as a Network Trauma Unit. Major trauma
is serious injuries that could result
in death or a major disability.
A triage tool is used to decide
whether the patient should be
taken straight to St. Mary’s or to
Hillingdon Hospital.
Feeding Major Poly Trauma to St Mary's, allows us to focus on improving normal trauma.
Future plans?
We will be further improving the patient experience and reducing length of stay (LOS) by launching T.E.R.I, which stands for Trauma Enhanced Recovery Initiative.
