‘Nearest hospital not always best for crash victims’
Dr Cathal O’Donnell, the medical director of the National Ambulance Service, said people should realise that the nearest hospital was not always the best option for the victims of road crashes.
“It can be better to spend longer bringing you to hospital,” he remarked. “It can have a significant effect on the outcome.”
Dr O’Donnell told the conference organised by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) that international research showed that the death rate of people in traffic accidents could be reduced by 25% by directing injured parties to the right type of hospital.
He admitted that it was sometimes a difficult argument to make to victims and their families who often believed they should be transported to the nearest medical facility following a collision.
Dr O’Donnell said it was also an argument many communities didn’t like to hear because it might undermine the status of the hospital in their area.
He pointed out the number of acute hospitals which treat crash victims with serious injuries had been reduced from 37 six years ago, to 24 today, because of the policy of treating injured parties in appropriate facilities.
He also rejected the popular concept of the “golden hour” — the 60-minute period after the accident which was once considered critical for a victim’s chances of survival — as outdated.
“It has coloured the development of trauma care,” he observed.
Road accident victim Siobhán O’Brien told the conference how her life had been devastated as a result of her involvement in a serious collision 12 years ago.
Ms O’Brien — who features in a RSA television advertisement — suffered traumatic brain injury in Oct 2001 when her car collided with an articulated lorry.
In a slow, sometimes faltering voice filled with emotion, she outlined how she had spent four months in hospital followed by a further nine months recovering at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire.
The 35-year-old former social worker, said she was now physically confined to a wheelchair while she also suffers from short- term memory loss.
Ms O’Brien admitted that she felt regularly frustrated by the emotional and behavioural impact of her injuries as well as her loss of independence in many respects.
“Acquired brain injury brings the person and their families many challenges,” she said.
“The wheelchair is a constant reminder to my neighbours, friends, and wider community that I was involved in an accident,” she said.
Ms O’Brien received a standing ovation for her presentation from the 300 delegates.
