Royal Preston Hospital became a Major Trauma Centre (MTC) for Lancashire & South Cumbria in July 2012.
Since then, the Major Trauma Centre has treated more than 11,500 trauma patients, many with life changing and life-threatening injuries.
As the regional MTC, Royal Preston Hospital receives the most severely injured patients from across the Lancashire & South Cumbria region and provides critical, life saving treatment.
10 years on, we have feature d three life changing situations and what happened next.
Today we feature the Major Trauma Centre itself.
The creation of Major Trauma Centres in the UK has been a vital development in the immediate access to emergency specialist treatment.
Royal Preston Hospital has all the necessary clinical specialities, services and departments to resuscitate and treat patients with serious traumatic injury, including access to the cardiothoracic service at Blackpool Victoria Hospital and regional burns centres.
The role of prehospital emergency ambulance services is critical in the immediate treatment of the patient at scene and the onward transfer of the patient to either one of the TUs or direct to the MTC here at RPH .
With 24/7 access to skilled specialists and emergency theatres the MTC here at the Royal Preston Hospital is able to provide emergency surgery, interventions and treatment to our most severely injured patients.
Royal Preston Hospital although an adult only Major Trauma Centre is capable of receiving and resuscitating children with major trauma injures that require stabilisation and onward transfer to one of the Northwest Children’s Major Trauma Centres at Alder Hey (Liverpool) and Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
Rehabilitation following major trauma starts as soon as the patient is physically and cognitively able to and is managed collaboratively between the surgeons, nurses and healthcare teams.
The Lancashire & South Cumbria Major Trauma Network consists of the following hospital sites that operate as a ‘Trauma Unit’ (TU);
Over the past 10 years there has been a year-on-year increase in the number of major trauma patients treated at the MTC.
The MTC has therefore continually developed to meet the demands of the major trauma service and to meet the needs of our major trauma patients.
Here are some examples of the service developments that have been implemented to support and improve the delivery of the major trauma pathway for our patients;
In 2015 a dedicated ten bedded Major Trauma Ward was opened, equipped with cardiac monitoring and supported by a comprehensive multi-disciplinary team including skilled and experienced nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, Major Trauma Clinical Practitioners, surgeons, dieticians, psychologist/counsellors.
In March 2018 the Major Trauma Patient Support Service, delivered by Headway (Central Lancashire), was launched to provide practical support for major trauma patients whilst in hospital.
This service has been a significant service development as patients and their families are provided with information and advice on financial/benefits, legal, employment, and housing matters.
This service has helped more than 3,300 of our major trauma patients.
In 2019 the Royal Preston Hospital Helipad was upgraded with the support of the HELP Appeal donation of £111,000. The essential upgrades have enabled further safety and night landing features.
On the 9th September 2019 the first Major Trauma MDT clinic of its kind in the country began at the Royal Preston Hospital MTC! The clinic provides our patients with access to;
o Consultant in Pain Management
o Major Trauma Clinical Psychologist
o Consultant in Major Trauma Rehabilitation
o Major Trauma Clinical Practitioner
A new electronic Major Trauma Rehabilitation Prescription (on Quadramed) was introduced and rolled out across the Trust on the 4th October 2021 which has revolutionised the way in which the document and process is completed.
From being launched there has been a sustained improvement not only in the completion but also in the quality of the information provided which is shared with the patient, ongoing healthcare provider and GP.
In the July 2022 the MTC is entering into a new collaboration with North West Air Ambulance (NWAA) in the creation of an aftercare liaison service.
This is an exciting venture that will see the two organisations working together to improve patient treatment and outcome, and will also provide a liaison service between patients, the NWAA crew and the MTC.
We look forward to seeing the work of our colleagues featured in the local and national media today and again in the coming years as we further develop the service for our communities of Lancashire and South Cumbria
