Frimley Health clinicians joined forces with 999 service colleagues for a special training day focused on knife trauma. 

More than 100 people took part in the second Code Red Trauma Day at Wexham Park Hospital’s postgraduate centre, following the inaugural event in February 2023. 

The day shone a spotlight on care for patients with knife injuries, and how teams can work together to achieve the best outcomes. 

It included lectures and demonstrations as well as practical, hand-on sessions using pig cadavers and high-fidelity manikins. 

Among the Frimley Health staff taking part were consultants, doctors and nursing staff from the emergency departments at Wexham Park and Frimley Park, as well as colleagues from specialties across the Trust. They were joined by paramedics from South Central Ambulance Service, medical students, and police service representatives. 

After morning lectures covering topics such as traumatic cardiac arrest, ventilation and trauma, major haemorrhage, and trauma team leadership, participants split into eight groups for a range of skills practice sessions and simulation exercises. 

The event was organised by chief registrar in emergency medicine Vicky Tay, ED consultant Anna Galley and ED registrar Vasant Mohandas. 

It aimed to ensure that as well as having the practical skills to care for trauma injuries, staff from different specialties and services understood each other’s roles and could work well together to best support patients. Clinical psychologists and human factor experts were also critical to the day. 

Dr Mohandas said: “It’s not just about factual knowledge, it’s about how you act and respond in any given situation and communicate with each other.” 

The organisers hope the Code Red Trauma Day can become an annual event, further boosting Wexham Park’s reputation for training and education. 

“We want to open this event to the rest of the Oxford deanery,” added Dr Mohandas. 

“There’s no reason why Wexham Park shouldn’t be a hub for education. We have some of the most interesting cases in the country, so why shouldn’t we stand up and say that we are the centre to run training events such as this?” 

The Code Red Trauma Day was held on a scheduled registrars’ training day to minimise its operational impact on our services.