NHS casualty departments under threat
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
UK NHS casualty units are not providing the best service for serious injuries and should be replaced by high-tech trauma centres, Dr Philip Kivell of Keele University told the Geographers' Conference in Exeter last week. The present system of 318 accident and emergency units owed more to historical patterns than to real need, he claimed. A&E units in rural areas saw fewer than 20,000 people last year which is too few to provide sufficient quality of care, he said.