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Date: 22 May 2012
Time: 17:25
QEHB to host national trauma centre
Story posted/last updated: 21 January 2011
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) will be announced today as the focus of a £20m national centre for research into treating trauma.
The new National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Centre for Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology will be set up at the hospital. Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley, Surgeon Vice Admiral Philip Raffaelli, and Director General of Research and Development at the Department of Health and interim Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally C Davies will visit QEHB on Thursday to announce the centre alongside University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) Chief Executive Julie Moore.
QEHB has a record of excellence in treating trauma, as a regional centre for major trauma and the primary receiving hospital for all of Britain’s serious military casualties.
Around 20,000 people suffer major trauma each year in England and Wales, and QEHB will become the focus for improving the way those patients are treated.
The initiative involves the Department of Health, the Ministry of Defence, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Birmingham.
The total investment of £20 million will be used to help bring military and civilian trauma surgeons and scientists together to share innovation in medical research and advanced clinical practice in the battlefield, benefiting all trauma patients in the NHS at an early stage of injury.
Research will focus initially on today's most urgent challenges in trauma, including:
- identifying effective resuscitation techniques
- surgical care after multiple injuries or amputation
- fighting wound infections
For every trauma fatality in England, two people are left with severe and often permanent injuries. Currently, variable research into trauma care means advances are not always shared across the NHS. The new NIHR centre will form a central point in England for trauma research where knowledge can be translated into real improvements in care for all NHS patients and beyond. It will be the first and only research centre of its kind in the UK to focus both on military and civilian care and treatment.
Julie Moore said it was a huge honour for the Trust to host the new centre at QEHB: "We are delighted to become the UK's only NIHR Centre for Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology.
“It is recognition of the work undertaken by the Trust and our partners over a number of years. It will provide us with the opportunity to build academic knowledge around pioneering clinical innovations, often performed for the first time to save lives and limbs.
“It will also allow us to use and develop basic science techniques to then critically examine and translate into clinical practice for the benefits of patients.”
Giving the centre the best possible clinical direction from the start will be its interim chair, Sir Keith Porter, who is the UK’s only Professor of Clinical Traumatology and has developing world-class treatment for injured military servicemen and women over the past 10 years.
Andrew Lansley said: “The new NIHR Centre will fund world-leading research to help people recover better and faster from severe injuries. There have already been significant developments in advanced emergency treatment and transportation but more medical research is needed.
“This investment will help to strengthen the response of health and emergency services to major disasters such as road traffic accidents and terrorist attacks in the future. It will also help to make the NHS leaders in the world of trauma care - helping to improve treatment and care in the NHS and around the world. This investment also reflects our commitment to health research in the strongest possible way.”
Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans Andrew Robathan said: “The medics who work for our Armed Forces are recognised the world over for pioneering new advances in trauma care, and quite rightly so. Those who have been injured defending their country deserve the very best standards of care. I am proud that the MoD is investing £10 million in the new NIHR Centre, which will allow us to develop new techniques to treat our soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and allow military surgeons to share our skills and knowledge with the NHS.”
Professor Dame Sally C Davies said: "I am delighted to be establishing the new NIHR Centre for Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology, in collaboration with our partners in the Ministry of Defence and in Birmingham, which will be unique in this country.
“Translational research efforts are needed to target the early phase of injury in order to develop novel therapies and interventions for pre-hospital and early in-hospital trauma care. The cross-learning fostered between the military and civilian healthcare settings will improve treatment options and care for all patients".
Surgeon Vice Admiral Philip Raffaelli said: “This is a hugely important initiative, building on the strong partnership between the MoD and Department of Health. The new centre will play a key role in building scientific evidence from injuries sustained in both military and civilian environments. All our patients will benefit now and in the future as new treatments are developed and shared across the NHS and the military.”
Many more people survive injuries, when not so long ago they would have died due to the rapid loss of blood and severe trauma. Overcoming severe limb, head, face and burn injuries and infections can take years to treat, requiring lifelong rehabilitation.
"The nature of military injuries are often very complex and can in some cases require years of after care and rehabilitation.
"The funding will offer researchers and medical students at the University unprecedented opportunities to work and learn with the very best in their field."
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