tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116690042850060767.post4464156507614950654..comments2023-08-10T12:55:23.427+01:00Comments on SUBROSA: Afghanistan and Scotland's Lack of a Military Hospital Unitsubrosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00151702590329788260noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116690042850060767.post-19575208859159517552010-08-02T23:57:25.757+01:002010-08-02T23:57:25.757+01:00Why couldn't we have a full trauma centre SE? ...Why couldn't we have a full trauma centre SE? It could be shared by civilians like many of the old MH's facilities were.<br /><br />Indeed efforts are being made here, most of them by the likes of Erskine which is funded greatly by the public.<br /><br />I would suggest many Scots would prefer to be treated near their family and friends. If they're injured in a tour of duty no point in being near your regiment because they're still deployed. Of course if you're married then the place to be is closest to your home. The choice should lie with the wounded if possible.<br /><br />Baston's medical care is vastly different to care received once home.<br /><br />What is also needed is more attention to artificial limbs. The US is way ahead in this provision and there's no reason why our wounded can't have the same - other than money.subrosahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00151702590329788260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116690042850060767.post-69269644451005614792010-08-02T18:15:35.192+01:002010-08-02T18:15:35.192+01:00John,
The issue is that, war and some training in...John,<br /><br />The issue is that, war and some training injuries aside, the military is full of fit young people - so the embedded doctors get to see a lot of sports injuries, far too much drunken stupidity, an amazing number of STDs and the odd strange infection. It is simply not enough to keep the skill-set up.<br /><br />Even with the battle damage included, A&E medics from some of the wilder heaths of London, Nottingham and even Glasgow are going to see more trauma injuries, arterial bleeds and such than on a shift at Bastion. It is the aftercare and rehabilitation - you don't get many multiple amputations in a bar fight (although motorbikes do a reasonable job on the spinal injury front) - that is becoming a military speciality. And, of course, the understanding of why you are there that was, in its lack, such an affront tto recovering soldiers in the earliest incarnations of Selly Oak.<br /><br />What do we actually want in Scotland? A full trauma centre - well, there just aren't that many people based here anymore - or something more sensible? Although the "Scottish Army" is large, much of it simply isn't based here. Where do you go close to? Your regiment, with the formal support and your wife and kids if you are married; your original family home; the "recruiting area" for your battalion?<br /><br />There are efforts being made to provide rehab facilities north of the border - you'll notice that the first regional "Army Recovery Centre" actually opened at Erskine in Edinburgh last summer?Surreptitious Evilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15393411103584747731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116690042850060767.post-40641768286869954972010-08-02T15:10:08.983+01:002010-08-02T15:10:08.983+01:00That's true John because I understand the high...That's true John because I understand the highest priority in MUs is trauma and injury care.<br /><br />I can't see the MoD, run by Westminster, giving us anything here. They've stripped most of our military down to the bare bones.subrosahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00151702590329788260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116690042850060767.post-46091710989930093522010-08-02T11:31:43.223+01:002010-08-02T11:31:43.223+01:00There must be medical cases involving troops stati...There must be medical cases involving troops stationed in Scotland who, presumably, currently end up in a NHS hospital. Given that a military hospital will not have the full range of departments (geriatric, mental,A&E,cancer etc.) they should be less expensive than a civilian unit. Having a BMH would allow civilian units to strip out some costs and ease the stern budget reductions that they face from Margaret Thatcher aka Cameron.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13657902425257354006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116690042850060767.post-21190153137713153732010-08-02T11:10:36.144+01:002010-08-02T11:10:36.144+01:00Good morning John. It's only one unit that'...Good morning John. It's only one unit that's being suggested - a ward in other words.<br /><br />As you say there are civilian medics who serve in the TA and volunteer to do work at the front line. The Scots involved would greatly benefit from having their skills kept up to date and personnel whose home and family are in Scotland or the north of England would also benefit.<br /><br />This isn't a case of money really. The money is there. A brand new military hospital has just been built in Birmingham. I see this as another slight to Scotland. We've had this before of course. We were ignored for so long and that's why Erskine Hospital came into being, built and run by public subscription and opened in 1916.subrosahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00151702590329788260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116690042850060767.post-64975257001422926292010-08-02T11:03:28.747+01:002010-08-02T11:03:28.747+01:00It wasn't addressed at the time Macheath becau...It wasn't addressed at the time Macheath because we had labour in power in Westminster and the labour/libdem pact here. None was interested in military matters or our wounded.<br /><br />The new coalition don't seem interested either. Time for us to shout about it.subrosahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00151702590329788260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116690042850060767.post-49577225829099083472010-08-02T10:59:40.624+01:002010-08-02T10:59:40.624+01:00It is sad that so soon after your previous post co...It is sad that so soon after your previous post comes another intimating the tragic loss of more young lives.<br /><br />There is an old adage of “where there’s a will there’s a way”, obviously not practiced by cash strapped health secretaries or blinkered MOD ministers.<br /><br />I would totally agree that the MOD arguments are totally fallacious and do not stand up to argument.<br /><br />Scotland is served by a number of excellent teaching facilities, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen. Many of the medical, theatre and nursing staff from these hospitals give of their skills, expertise and time to serve in the TA, augmenting the military’s medical services.<br /><br />Scotland’s very own 612 ‘County of Aberdeen Squadron’, based at RAF Leuchars, is already providing medical and surgical field support. In addition Leuchars runway has been recently lengthened and relayed so can now take any heavy transport aircraft.<br /><br />Scotland has the knowledge, the skills, the hospitals and the expertise to treat military casualties. All we need is the political ‘will’ to bring it all together at a single centre.JRBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01864418763227369458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116690042850060767.post-10888699743215335502010-08-02T10:36:25.038+01:002010-08-02T10:36:25.038+01:00This argument carries the subliminal message that ...<i>This argument carries the subliminal message that they wouldn't consider putting casualties from England or Wales in a Scottish unit </i><br /><br />This is the Carham ambulance question writ large - although the nearest ambulance base to the village of Carham, Northumberland, is 6 miles away in Kelso, casualties have had to wait for an <i>English</i> ambulance from Berwick-upon-Tweed, 17 miles away.<br /><br />It's not a case of unwillingness to help - it's that the computer systems simply will not allow cross-border transfer of patients.<br /><br />The same is true of other computer systems - try ordering online groceries or appliance repairs in the wilder bits of Cheviot country and you'll find that their vans won't cross the border either.<br /><br />(A trivial example, I know, but it illustrates the fixed attitude that has accompanied the ubiquitous Little Tin Gods of IT.)<br /><br />It's an issue well worth raising, SR; given the drastic nature of the re-organisation of Scottish regiments, I'm amazed this question wasn't addressed and answered at the time.Macheathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04451439759398780345noreply@blogger.com