Liverpool Clinicians create new head trauma score to tackle unnecessary referrals

A score to help clinicians define mild head traumas has been developed by a team of staff from The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust and Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The Liverpool Head Injury Tomography Score (Liverpool HITS) was recently published in The British Journal of Neurosurgery. The new scoring system defines ‘surgically significant’ mild traumatic brain injuries in a bid to improve communication between neurosurgical centres and referral centres.

Consultant Neurosurgeon, and Lead for Trauma at The Walton Centre, Catherine McMahon said: “I’m delighted that Liverpool HITS has proven so effective in categorising mild head traumas.

“This could improve the head injury referral process by a significant amount and what’s even better is that the score has a very high sensitivity, so clinicians unsure of whether or not to refer a patient would be given the confidence that they are acting in the best interests of the patient.”

Over half of the patients studied would never have required a referral to the neurosurgical centre meaning unnecessary workload in local A&Es and telephone consultations with neurosurgeons could have been avoided.

Lead Radiology Registrar for the Cheshire & Merseyside Collaborative, Chris McLeavy, said: "The Liverpool HITS Team is proud to have developed such a robust and easy to use scoring system that will streamline head injury referrals. Liverpool HITS will improve communication, reduce unnecessary referrals, give staff more time to spend with sick patients and ensure all head injury patients are managed quickly and effectively."

The University of Liverpool’s Connor Gillespie, who worked on the research project, said: “I’m excited about the implications of Liverpool HITS. We want referring centres to be supported in their decision making, that not all mild head traumas need to be referred to specialists like The Walton Centre, rather provide guidance locally to empower local trauma units how best to manage these patients

“During a time of increasing demand on the NHS this system has the potential to significantly reduce workload without affecting patient care” 

The score has attracted great interest nationally and will be rolled out across the North West and hopefully incorporated into referral processes across the wider NHS.”

To read the full paper online, click here: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/G2QSTJ5Y76KYUJDUHJIX/full?target=10.1080%2F02688697.2019.1710825&