The aim of the National Transport Medicine Programme (NTMP) is to establish and develop a comprehensive retrieval/transfer system for seriously ill babies, children and adults throughout Ireland. The work of the programme enables the timely retrieval/transfer of critically ill or severely injured patients by appropriately trained and skilled teams of healthcare professionals who get the right patient, to the right care, in the right condition, in the right time. The service operates between hospitals where patients can be transferred to another hospital for specialist treatment and when appropriate the patient can be transferred back to the original hospital for on-going care. This ensures the patient gets the most appropriate care to meet their clinical needs.
The NTMP brings Critical Care, Anaesthesia, Emergency Medicine, Acute Medicine, Acute Surgery, Paediatrics, Obstetrics, Neonatology, Nursing and Midwifery, National Ambulance Service (NAS), Primary Care and Patients together under a single programme structure.
What the NTMP means for patients
- Enhanced access to appropriate health care services, to meet their clinical needs, for a wider proportion of the population.
- Safe retrieval/transfer of severely injured/critically ill patients for Critical Care and other specialist care in tertiary hospitals.
- Enhanced clinical outcomes for severely injured / critically ill patients due to earlier appropriate decision to transfer, stabilisation prior to transport and specialised care en-route.
- Reductions in Average Length of Stay (ALOS) for affected categories of patients. This results also in savings for the healthcare system through the work of the National Clinical Programmes.
- Availability of specialist care for the patient while also optimising and utilising clinical resources within the National Health Service.
- Skilled teams available to regional and outlying hospitals. Capital and regional based retrieval teams/services will be an efficient and effective strategy for providing workforce support to regional and outlying hospitals.
Key objectives of the programme
- All infants, children and adults requiring critical care will receive the appropriate treatment, in the right place, at the right time, by the right people.
- Develop clinical governance structures and practices to aid improvement in quality, efficiency and cost effectiveness of the NTMP, ensuring best patient outcomes.
- Outline roles, responsibilities and competencies for all clinical personnel involved in retrievals and transfers.
- Ensure authority, accountability and responsibility for all members of the national retrieval teams.
- Establish a National Retrieval Coordination Desk with a single point of contact for all retrieval requests.
- Establish a National ‘live’ Bed-Bureau.
Priorities for 2015
- Develop national electronic data collection for quality metrics specific to the transport environment.
- Invest in building enhanced partnerships with the existing services in Galway, while also identifying future models of care for adult retrieval.
- Develop a business case to support expansion of the Paediatric and Neonatal Retrieval Service.
- Work in partnership with NAS to build on the current investment and service provision for the NTMP.
- Standardise equipment for adult retrieval teams and regional centres.
National Retrieval Steering Committee
Dr Jeff Perring – Chair
Dr Dermot Doherty – Director, National Clinical Programme in Transport Medicine
Ms Anne McCabe – Programme Manager
Dr Rory Dwyer – National Adult Retrieval Lead
TBA – National Paediatric Retrieval Lead
Dr Jan Franta – National Neonatal Retrieval Lead
Ms Anna Marie Murphy – National Adult Retrieval Coordinator
Ms Lorraine Heery – National Paediatric Retrieval Coordinator
Ms Ann Bowden – National Neonatal Retrieval Coordinator
Dr Jeremy Smith – Director, National Clinical Programme in Anaesthesia
Dr Gerard McCarthy – Director, National Clinical Programme in Emergency Medicine
Dr Michael Power – Director, National Clinical Programme in Critical Care
Dr Garry Courtney – Director, National Clinical Programme in Acute Medicine
Ms Olivia Flanagan - RCSI, Representative of Frank Keane, National Clinical Programme in Acute Surgery
Professor Alf Nicholson – Director, National Clinical Programme in Paediatrics & Neonatology
Dr John Murphy – Director, National Clinical Programme in Paediatrics & Neonatology
Mr Paul Hughes – Obstetrics representative for Michael Turner, Director, National Clinical Programme Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Ms Geraldine Shaw – Representative from the Office of the Nursing and Midwifery Services Director
Mr Martin Dunne – Director, National Ambulance Service
Mr Cathal O’ Donnell – Medical Director, National Ambulance Service
Ms Mandy Daly – Representative from a Patient Advocacy Group (Director of Advocacy & Policy Making, Irish Neonatal Health Alliance (INHA))
