MORE patients in the south are surviving life-threatening injuries thanks to a regional trauma network set up in 2012.

The Wessex Trauma Network, which held its annual conference at the Ageas Bowl yesterday, heard the an independent report by the Trauma Audit and Research Network had found that injured patients now had a 63 per cent better chance of survival.

The regional trauma centre, based at Southampton General Hospital, is one of only 12 centres across the country to offer the full range of specialist surgical, intensive care and supporting services for adults and children who suffer major trauma – life-threatening injuries commonly sustained through road traffic accidents, falls, violence or sporting injuries.

Last year, the centre saw 571 patients with immediately life-threatening injuries compared to 272 in 2012 and 419 patients with potentially life-changing injuries compared to 226 in 2012.

Patients with potential major injuries now bypass their local hospitals to go directly to Southampton if their injury occurs within a 60-minute drive.

Those injured further afield are taken to their nearest trauma unit – there are seven in Wessex, at Portsmouth, Basingstoke, Poole, Dorset, Salisbury, Chichester and on the Isle of Wight – where they are assessed and resuscitated. If special intervention is required they are rapidly transferred to Southampton.

In Southampton, emergency department consultants and senior trauma team leaders are now on-site round the clock, while nine emergency and anaesthetic doctors also fly regularly with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance to provide treatment at accident scenes.

Among recent developments are a smartphone app, devised by anaesthetists Dr Matthew Julian and Dr Simon Hughes in Southampton, which provides clinicians with instant access to advice and guidance to treat a range of trauma injuries.

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust has also teamed up with the University of Southampton to offer the first Master of Science (MSc) degree in trauma sciences with direct access to a level one trauma centre, enabling students to follow the patient journey from pre-hospital care to acute rehabilitation.

Dr Mark Baxter, director of major trauma at UHS, said: “The development of major trauma centres and networks have ensured patients are treated by the right clinicians in the right locations as quickly as possible and that is why we are seeing such fantastic improvements in survival.

“We have a tremendous network in our region with excellent teamwork across our ambulances services, trauma units and the trauma centre and clinicians throughout the WTN are constantly looking for ways to improve further.”

Dr Simon Hughes, a member of the trauma team at UHS, added: “These are extremely exciting times for trauma care in the region and nationally, with developments such as our smartphone app and pioneering MSc course leading innovation nationally.”

There are around 16,000 life-threatening instances in England every year, with 37,000 people seriously injured in total.

It is the most common cause of death in children and adults under the age of 40 and is also the fifth most common cause of death in the elderly.