Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Until now, Morriston Hospital has not been able to treat people who have badly injured their spines in accidents, transferring them to Cardiff or Bristol hospitals instead. And many West Wales patients who needed other forms of spinal treatment have traditionally also gone further east.That is set to change as the new £350,000 Ward E, Orthopaedic and Spinal Surgery Unit gears up over the next few months. It will be a major boost for trauma services in Morriston Hospital, said Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Dougie Russell, who is also ABM’s Musculoskeletal Clinical Director.
He explained:
“This is a very exciting development. We’ve just appointed two new Orthopaedic Spinal Consultant Surgeons who are coming from one of the largest spinal units in the UK and will be taking up post before the end of the year.
“They will be joining two of our neurosurgeons who will only be carrying out spinal surgery, now that neurosurgery has moved to Cardiff.
“We hope to be able to provide a full range of spinal surgery apart from treating paediatric spinal deformities. They will still need to go to Cardiff because they may need to go to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit following their surgery.”
Mr Russell said that a full range of spinal trauma surgery will now be able to be carried out in Swansea for the first time, and there were aims to expand further to include the treatment of spinal tumours as well.
“Until now if a patient arrives at Morriston with a spinal injury, he or she has to be transferred to Cardiff or Bristol for treatment. But we will now be able to do that kind of complex surgery in Swansea.
“Because we have so much major trauma arriving at Morriston Hospital – the air ambulance lands here regularly – being able to treat spinal injuries is a major boost for our trauma services.”
Mr Russell added that West Wales patients from places like Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Aberystwyth will also come to Morriston Hospital in future, rather than hospitals further along the M4 corridor.
“It will be better for these patients and their families as they won’t have so far to travel,” he said.
“Overall, it is a very positive development.”
Ends
For further information, please contact: Susan Bailey,
Head of Communications
Tel: 01639 683330
Email: susan.bailey@wales.nhs.uk
Website: www.abm.wales.nhs.uk