Mark Oaten Calls on Government to Fund Specialist Trauma Response Teams.

Mark Oaten has taken the campaign to get central Government funding for voluntary doctors who make up specialist trauma response teams to Parliament with the tabling of EDM 1334.

British Association for Immediate Care (BASICS) doctors attend emergency situations and provide highly skilled emergency care to individuals which is sometimes of a level above paramedic training. These emergency responses, particularly complex airway management procedures, help to stabilise patients in a critical condition.

While the Government provides funding for such services within London, the London Air Ambulance Service, no such funding is provided anywhere else in the country. Instead Government relies on the hard work, good will and tireless dedication of doctors who volunteer for these duties on top of their other responsibilities. For the majority of the public who consider emergency trauma teams to be state funded this comes as a complete shock.

Doctors are put in the unenviable position of having to decide what is more important – staying in the A&E or rushing out, with the use of their own private cars, to carry out potentially life saving procedures on critically injured patients.

Mark Oaten has tabled EDM 1334 titled ‘Specialist Trauma Response Teams’ calling on Government to introduce funding. He has also written to the Chairman of the Health select Committee, The Rt Hon Kevin Barron MP, in the hope that this issue may be pushed further up the agenda.

More locally Mark has written to the Chief Executive of Southampton General Hospital to urge plans to build a new helipad next to the Emergency Department to cater for quicker and more efficient emergency care, which are currently on hold, to be implemented as soon as possible.

Mark Oaten stated:

“I was shocked when I was told that these doctors, providing a vital service, were doing it all voluntarily – even using their own cars for it!

“In many cases this really is the difference between life and death and for the Government to take the work of these doctors for granted like this is staggering. There really needs to be urgent changes made so that funds can be made available for this important service.