Major Trauma Audit National Report 2019 and 2020

This report focuses on a period of time when Ireland’s health service underwent unprecedented challenges due to the global COVID-19 pandemic which began in 2020. It provides insights into how changes in the health system during this time affected the profile of major trauma and the standard of care for major trauma patients. The report also provides data on the volume and type of injuries sustained during the pandemic, the access to vital services for major trauma patients and outcomes.

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Key Findings

Falls in the home continue to be the leading cause of Major Trauma in Ireland

Injury prevention

Home Safety Checklist for falls prevention

Key Recommendations

Recommendations to the National Office for Trauma Services HSE

The National Office for Trauma Services, HSE should continue to work closely with, and support, the MTA by:- providing clarity about key definitions for trauma teams and trauma team activation criteria - using the data from the MTA to identify injury prevention opportunities for the new trauma system. - using the data from the MTA to support trauma care re-organisation and monitor the effect of changes

Recommendations To Hospital Managers, Clinicians And Audit Coordinators

Each hospital should establish a local MTA governance committee to ensure their local audit findings are acted on; this is in line with the guidance issued by the MTA.

Recommendations To The National Office Of Clinical Audit

The National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA) will work with the Health Service Executive to develop a strategy for sustainable support for clinical audit in the hospitals.

NOCA should continue to support each hospital to: - establish a local MTA governance committee- achieve high standards of data quality and data completeness- improve quarterly reports to support hospitals with quality improvement and facilitate training in the use of the Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) analytics portal.

NOCA will continue to highlight opportunities for this data to be used for public health messaging by organisations and departments such as, the HSE Health and Wellbeing Division and AFFINITY National Falls and Bone Health Project, DOH Healthy Ireland Programme, Road Safety Authority and Age Friendly Homes Ireland.

NOCA should also: - work with relevant organisations to carry out research on how to better identify patients with major trauma injuries at the earliest possible time- work with Public and Patient Interest (PPI) representatives and groups to utilise and disseminate public health messages from the MTA.