'Lottery' in careof trauma patients attacked

Mike Waites

SERIOUSLY injured victims of accidents and violence suffer from “unacceptable” variations in care depending on which hospital treats them, a highly critical report finds today.

Between 450 and 600 lives a year could be saved by improving treatment of trauma cases, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).

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It recommends a network of centres should be set up to avoid delays in treatment and build expertise.

Care given to trauma patients, including victims of road accidents, falls, blasts, burns and assaults by guns or knives, had not “significantly improved” in more than 20 years, despite a series of criticisms, it said.

The head of the NAO, Amyas Morse, said: “Current services for people who suffer major trauma are not good enough.

“There is unacceptable variation, which means that if you are unlucky enough to have an accident at night or at the weekend, in many areas, you are likely to receive worse quality of care and are more likely to die.”

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Nearly 200 hospitals treat trauma victims, but cases amount to only 0.2 per cent of total accident and emergency activity, meaning there is insufficient experience among some medics.

Concentrating experts at regional centres would lead to improvements in the speed and quality of treatment, despite increasing the distance travelled for care, the report said.

Research found there was a 20 per cent higher in-hospital death rate for patients in England compared with the USA.

There are at least 20,000 cases of major trauma each year in England, leading to 5,400 deaths and many more cases of disability.

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The chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, Conservative MP Edward Leigh, described the set-up as “lamentable”.

“Major trauma services are currently provided in a disorganised and uncoordinated fashion,” he said.

Health Minister Mike O’Brien said work had been under way since 2007 to introduce regional trauma networks operating round the clock.