The Barts Charity Trauma Appeal, which was launched today, aims to raise £1 million to support vital research at The Royal London Hospital, in conjunction with Queen Mary University of London’s Centre for Trauma Sciences.
Trauma is serious physical injury to the body and is commonly caused by road traffic collisions, falls, violence and self-harm. It is the biggest killer of young people under 40 in the UK, with 46 people losing their life to serious injury every day.
Over the last ten years, research by Queen Mary’s Centre for Trauma Sciences has halved the number of deaths in the most critical trauma patients. But despite these enormous gains, there is almost no funding dedicated to improving trauma survival rates through further research.
The Barts Charity Trauma Appeal will fund the improvements in care and research needed to address growing rates of serious injury, and is backed by MP Stephen Timms who was stabbed whilst at his constituency office in east London in 2010.
Stephen said: “Traumatic injury such can happen to anyone at any time, and it’s only thanks to the incredible care that I received at The Royal London Hospital that I am still here today. With rates of serious injury set to rise, it is more important than ever that we support the vital work of those delivering the research and care that are saving lives every day.
“I would urge everyone to back Barts Charity with their Trauma Appeal - you never know when you or a loved one might need this urgent support.”
Professor Karim Brohi from Queen Mary’s Centre for Trauma Sciences said: “Trauma is a growing issue and we are now faced with tackling the challenge of an increasing number of cases in London year on year. Every day in London, a severely injured person survives traumatic injury that would have died 10 years ago. This is only because of the advancements in trauma research and care that have been made to date.
“There is so much more we need to do to reduce death from trauma and improve the quality of life for those that survive. The Barts Charity Trauma Appeal aims to increase awareness of this growing disease and raise vital funds for it.”
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