07 June 2016
New partnerships helping to save lives in Bristol
Two transport teams from University Hospitals Bristol NHS
Foundation Trust are teaming up with a helicopter transfer charity
to help save the lives of children in the south west.
Wales & West Acute Transport for Children (WATCh) and
Newborn Emergency Stabilisation & Transport Team (NEST) are
announcing their partnership with the charity Children's Air
Ambulance.
WATCh and NEST, which are based at Bristol Children's Hospital
and St Michael's Hospital respectively, are teams dedicated to
transferring the most vulnerable, sick babies and children to
specialist treatment centres, giving them the best chance of
survival.
The Children's Air Ambulance is a charity that offers a unique,
free of charge, dedicated specialist helicopter transferring
critically ill children andbabies over significant distances across
the UK.
Teaming up with the Children's Air Ambulance will not only
enable WATCh and NEST to complete some transfers up to four times
faster than by land ambulance, but will also free up valuable time
for clinicians who have to spend less time on single missions.
Dr Will Marriage, lead clinician from WATCh, said:
"The WATCh team provides mobile children's intensive care
support to all the district general hospitals in South West England
and South Wales. The team covers a wide geographical area and
access to the TCAA helicopter has meant that we can quickly deliver
a specialist team to a child's bedside, however far away they are
from a children's Intensive Care Unit."
The Grand Appeal, the Bristol
Children's Hospital charity, funded a specialist stretcher for use
in the helicopter.
Anna Shepherd, deputy director, The Grand Appeal, said:
"The Grand Appeal is celebrating its 21st anniversary
this year, as well as 150 years of Bristol Children's Hospital,
making the announcement of this partnership between WATCh, NEST and
the Children's Air Ambulance even more special.
"Bristol Children's Hospital treats children from across the
largest geographic area of any children's hospital in England,
covering Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, and South
Wales. We are very proud to support both WATCh and NEST's critical
work to transfer children from across this vast area back to
Bristol, for the lifesaving care available."
Patrick Turton, lead nurse for the NEST team, said:
"We are really pleased to have developed a partnership with the
Children's Air Ambulance moving babies in need of emergency
specialist care into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St
Michael's Hospital. We also move some babies back the long
distances to their home hospitals which is important for keeping
families and their support networks together.
"The NEST team transfers more than 700 babies every year, and
using the Children's Air Ambulance for some of these transfers can
really shorten the journey time for the babies, and help the team
to be ready to respond quickly to another referral."
Richard Clayton, director of operations for the Children's Air
Ambulance, said:
"This partnership represents a tremendous opportunity to provide
help to some of the most critically ill children and babies in
Wales and the south west.
"Sick children and babies are at their most vulnerable when they
are out of the hospital environment. By performing helicopter
transfers we not only reduce that risk, but help save clinicians
valuable time, helping them reach other children faster."
Supporters can help WATCh and NEST by donating to The Grand
Appeal. Visit www.grandappeal.org.uk
for more information.
To help the Children's Air Ambulance raise the £2,800 they need
to fly each mission, supporters can visit www.thechildrensairambulance.org.uk.
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