Warning over treatment of head trauma victims

Two in five patients who suffered severe head injuries in 2014 and 2015 were not treated at neurological centres, despite clear evidence of much better outcomes for patients when this is the case.

The finding is contained in the first Major Trauma Audit Report 2014-2015 which focuses on the most severely injured patients in the Irish healthcare system.

Writing in the foreword to the report, Dr Conor Deasy, chair of the audit’s governance committee and Dr Colm Henry, HSE group lead for acute hospitals, warn of “high numbers of trauma patients going to hospitals that cannot provide necessary and definitive care”.