Selly Oak Hospital and the casualties of the Afghanistan war
“Because of the amount of time we have spent dealing with trauma injuries I would say that eight out of ten people who should not have survived we have managed to save.”
The Intensive Care Unit reveals just how many soldiers come within a hair’s breath of dying. When I was there ten beds were occupied with members of the forces. Each had been airlifted back from Afghanistan and each was receiving round-the-clock treatment to be kept alive.
The hospital treats all manner of military injuries from bad gashes, to broken limbs, to life-threatening conditions. The most seriously injured have multiple injuries. This is a result of the Taliban’s more recent tactic to use improvised explosive devises. These devastating weapons cause horrific injuries to many areas of the body.
Teams of surgical specialists are assembled to treat the injuries and once the marathon operating procedure is finished they are brought to the Intensive Care Unit to try and recover from the trauma.
Lt Colonel Phil Carter, of the Royal Army Medical Corps, served in Iraq in 2002. He said: “The more severely injured might need up to 15-20 procedures. We have people who are dedicated to looking after the welfare of families. Most of the local patients we treat at the hospital are elderly whereas most of the military personnel we treat are under 50, so there are different psychological issues for the families.”
Erika Perkins has run the Intensive Care Unit for 11 years. In that time she and her dedicated staff have helped to save the lives of hundreds of young men and women. Last year she was given the opportunity to see for herself how things work at the sharp end when the injured soldiers are plucked from the battlefield and taken to Camp Bastion.
The territorial army soldier said it was an eye-opening, but rewarding experience.
She said: “I was the most experienced when I went out to Afghanistan because of the work I had done here. It was hard work and quite stressful because I was working 12 hour days and I didn’t have a day off in the whole three months I was out there.
“My time in Afghanistan has taught me how lucky we are to be born in the western world. The difference between out there and here is that there the priority is to save lives and get them home. At Selly Oak the aim is to plan care and treatment.
“I’m glad I did it, though, and if I got the opportunity to go again I would love to. It is nice for me to understand where they go and what they do.
“The people I dealt with were all young and fit but I found their attitude inspirational. They really fought hard to get themselves fit.”
In June, Selly Oak Hospital will begin shifting its resources to a new ‘super’ hospital which will bring the resources of Selly Oak and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital together under one roof which Lt Colonel Carter said would be hugely beneficial.
He said: “The staff are really looking forward to it. The big advantage of the new hospital is bringing everything together –neuro-surgery and maximo facial surgery for example – so we will never be short of a specialist. It is going to benefit military patients, but also local patients.
“There will be more single rooms and four bedded bays which will give us much more flexibility in how we nurse military patients. A lot prefer having military patients either side of them. Military patients quickly get their banter back which is often quite earthy!”
The new hospital will improve the facilities on offer and give the talented and dedicated members of staff the chance to ensure that the footnotes of war are able to one day tell write their own incredible stories of courage.
