Benefits for patient retrieval services

Specialist Transport and Retrieval, ScotSTAR, is a national service covering the whole of Scotland from as far north as the Shetland Islands, down to Stranraer in the south. For adults, the Emergency Retrieval Service trauma team provides roadside stabilisation following accidents, pre-hospital care and secondary retrievals from remote sites, transporting patients requiring a critical level of care that cannot be provided locally to the nearest Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The Paediatric Retrieval Team complements this service, transferring critically ill and injured children from remote and rural areas to the Paediatric Intensive Care Units in Glasgow and Edinburgh. PoC ultrasound systems are vital to these services, enabling pre-hospital assessment of cardiac function, diagnosis of pneumothoraces and faster, more accurate line placement.

Easier triage of trauma cases

Due to the geography and remoteness of some areas of Scotland, patient transfers can involve a round trip of as much as 700 miles, and aeromedical transfers using the Scottish Ambulance Service’s dedicated, funded helicopters and planes, equipped with PoC ultrasound systems, play an important role in both paediatric and adult retrievals.