16.2 |
Support for injured Service Personnel
and veterans
in my view
by treating them as a group … for example, giving them the
advanced
prostheses
in the future, giving them access to new techniques that are
becoming
available
as a result of research.”63
The MOD
told the Inquiry that it had identified five major “lessons” from
the provision
of medical
care during Op TELIC, and had incorporated those lessons into its
medical
procedures.64
The lessons
were:
•
Novel
haemostatics. Experience during Op TELIC showed that control
of
catastrophic
bleeding in the first 10 minutes after wounding led to a
significant
improvements
in mortality and morbidity rates. New blood clotting
agents,
the Combat
Applied Tourniquet, and an improved First Field dressing
were
introduced
to arrest the flow of blood more effectively.
•
Medical
Emergency Response Teams (MERTs). Experience during Op
TELIC
led to the
creation of Immediate Response Teams (IRTs), to deliver medical
care
at the
point of wounding. The concept was developed into MERTs, which
deliver
consultant-led,
pre-hospital emergency care.
•
The
introduction of a more capable “ground evacuation platform” (based
on the
Mastiff)
which improved soldiers’ confidence in the casualty evacuation
chain
and
significantly improved the delivery of medical care during
evacuation.
•
The
introduction of digital imaging which allowed casualties to be
diagnosed
more
quickly and more accurately.
•
The
development of an enhanced system for capturing medical data
from
all parts
of the operational medical chain which improved casualty care
and
treatment
regimes.
The Inquiry
asked Lt Gen Lillywhite what the MOD had learned from Op TELIC
about
trauma
care.65
Lt Gen
Lillywhite highlighted three areas:
•
how to save
life at the point of injury, including through the use of
haemostatic
dressings
and massive transfusion protocols;
•
how to sustain
the quality of life of seriously injured individuals into the
long
term;
and
•
pain
management.
Lt Gen
Lillywhite added that those advances, and others, were being
transferred to civilian
medicine.
63
Public
hearing, 20 July 2010, page 92.
64
Minute
MOD [junior
official] to Iraq Inquiry [junior official], 22 June 2010, ‘Iraq
Inquiry – Request
for Evidence’.
65
Public
hearing, 20 July 2010, pages 24-27.
57