Resource utilisation for patients brought to a major trauma centre by helicopter

Abstract

Background: Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) allow critical care personnel to attend incidents alongside transporting patients to hospital. The study site is a UK based emergency department and major trauma centre, accepting flights from a wide geographical area.

Aims: To characterise the impact of HEMS on a major trauma centre clinical resources and the impact of the UK regional trauma network launch on HEMS asset provision.

Methods: Flight case-mix data were obtained from Emergency Department (ED) records (non-trauma patients) and from the Trauma Audit and Research Network database (trauma patients). Statistical analysis was in Excel.

Results: 432 flights landed at the site between August 2018 and July 2019. 178 flights originated from the incident scene (145 trauma, 26 non-trauma), 107 from other hospitals, and 5 to other hospitals. Hospitalisation was reduced to a median of 6 days.

Conclusions: Primary HEMS trauma patients utilised significant clinical resources but had shorter hospitalisations than those without HEMS intervention. The regional trauma network improved HEMS tasking and utilised critical car cars to provide advanced pre-hospital care locally. Further work should compare HEMS versus ground ambulance to determine the impact of HEMS on patient outcomes and cost implications to both HEMS operators and receiving hospital.

Keywords: Air ambulance; Emergency; Evaluation; Helicopter; Helicopter Emergency Medical Services; Major trauma centre; Regional trauma network; Review; Trauma.