'Inadequate care' in half of A&E trauma cases

Less than half the patients admitted to accident and emergency departments with severe injuries get adequate care - according to the Daily Telegraph.

A Government-funded report has found that 20% of hospitals have no dedicated trauma team and that care standards drop significantly at night, adding that trauma patients are being treated by inexperienced staff who display little urgency and make incorrect clinical decisions.

The Government is expect to seize on the findings to support a White Paper published last year advocating centralising trauma care in specialist regional centres, at the price of local A&E departments.

Critics suspect the proposals are more about cost-cutting than patient care and say the move could see 29 hospitals closed. They argue this will jeopardise the survival of patients, who will be put at risk by travelling the extra distance to a trauma centre.

Their fears are backed by recent research which suggested that mortality rates increase by 1% for every extra six miles travelled.

Commenting on the report, Dr Jonathan Fielden, of the British Medical Association, said: "It must not be taken to support closing local units, it should be used to improve patient care. There need to be more consultants employed in the NHS to lead trauma teams."

The report, "Trauma: Who Cares?", published today by the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death, says hospital trusts must ensure a trauma team is available 24 hours a day with an experienced consultant as leader.

Sadly this is unlikely to be affordable while MPs splash so much public cash on the audit-failing European Union.

On Monday, MPs voted to approve a massive £7bn increase in funds, taking our annual EU payments to an astonishing £10.5bn gross every year.

But while the "majority" of the EU's spending remains unverifiable by auditors, and reports of EU waste and fraud continue, there is absolutely no justification for rewarding the EU with such a huge increase in payments.

No wonder the government is having to consider centralising trauma care in regional centres, instead of properly equipping local A&E departments. Where are our MPs' priorities?