87 per cent of 245 hospitals studied can’t care for serious head injury in children

Children are turning up to hospitals which are not equipped to treat their head injuries.

More than four fifths of youngsters attending an emergency department are having to be transferred to a different hospital because the injury was too serious for them to treat.

Of the 210,000 children with a head injury attending hospital every year, 34,500 have to be admitted.

Those requiring emergency surgery and intensive care are at risk of death or severe disability if there are delays to treatment.

There are around 578 children under the age of 15 years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who experience a serious head injury requiring intensive care every year.

But only 104 will arrive at a hospital casualty department capable of providing the right care and treatment.

The remaining 474 will need an urgent transfer to another hospital.

Of 245 hospitals in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man surveyed, a whopping 87 per cent could not care for a critically ill child.

Some hospitals designated as a specialist trauma or neurosurgical centre, didn’t even have an intensive care facility for children.

The study has been published online in Emergency Medicine Journal.