Hospital in bid to host specialist trauma unit

CARDIFF is the ideal location to house Wales’ first major trauma centre as it’s already a UK leader in several other specialities, top medics have claimed.

The University Hospital of Wales (UHW), in Heath, is set to battle it out with Morriston Hospital in Swansea to land the specialist centre.

Major trauma centres treat the most severely injured patients with critical cases usually taken directly there instead of the nearest A&E department.

The state-of-the-art centre would feature neurosurgery, plastics, interventional radiology, paediatrics, cardiothoracics and maxillo-facial services.

England has 27 of these centres while Wales has none but that is set to change following a recommendation from an expert panel. It is now assessing bids from both Morriston and UHW which both want to house the facility which would treat patients from South Wales, West Wales, and south Powys.

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (UHB) already manages a significant proportion of major trauma patients from across Mid and South Wales.

This number has risen since the commencement of the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service, also known as the Welsh Flying Medics.

Cardiff and Vale UHB’s medical director Graham Shortland believes Cardiff has the edge because of its great track record in other specialities.

He said: “Cardiff and Vale UHB is the flagship health board for delivering neurosurgery and paediatrics specialities such as paediatric intensive care.

“We have a world-class new purposebuilt children’s hospital and redesigned emergency unit with a helipad that ensures a patient is treated as quickly as possible, increasing their chance of survival.

“We have a significant number of committed senior clinicians and managers to deliver a coordinated service in Cardiff.”

Despite being the largest A&E in Wales, UHW boasts the best waiting times with fewer patients waiting 12 hours than any major unit in the country.

Figures for February revealed 2.3% of patients at UHW spent 12 hours or more before being admitted, transferred to another ward or discharged.

Morriston, on the other hand, is regularly one of the worst performers.

In February, 9% of patients spent longer than 12 hours in emergency units and just over half (55.3%) spent four hours or less.

The NHS Wales Collaborative Leadership Group is the body in charge of making a recommendation on the preferred location of the major trauma centres for the region.

The decision is likely to be made in autumn.