Sir, – I read with great interest your recent articles outlining the reduction in road deaths. I must commend the work of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), which I believe has, in part but not completely, resulted in such a decline.
I do not wish in any way to undermine the superb work of the RSA in the past decade, particularly in the area of education, but I feel attributing the figures in their entirety to political and legislative changes would be unfair on the committed and selfless work of our healthcare professionals.
Accidents will always happen and although prevention is paramount, when this fails a comprehensive modern trauma service must be available to treat those high-velocity injuries 24 hours a day.
With more than 25 years experience in trauma care, I have seen significant developments in trauma, anaesthetic, nursing and rehabilitation care. Patients in the recent past who would not have survived a severe polytrauma are now not only surviving but regaining a quality of life near their pre-accident level. I believe this is due to the advances of pre-hospital, in-hospital and post-hospital care along with the dedication of our frontline services, including our paramedical staff.
Outcomes continue to improve in trauma care and although there is room for significant improvement, the literature, including that from our own unit, will reinforce this data.
Again, I would like to commend the RSA for the continued work in reducing road death fatality numbers but would also like to point out the significant role of our trauma units throughout the country in reducing the mortality and morbidity following high velocity injuries often under very difficult circumstances. – Yours, etc,