Learning from Every Case: The Role of Pathology in EHAAT’s Care

A blog from our Associate Medical Director, Dr Gareth Grier

At EHAAT, we’re proud to be supporting National Pathology Week, which this year is themed around ‘’Pathology Solutions’’. We’re passionate about making cutting-edge advances in the care our patients receive as well as providing an intense focus on reviewing every single case to make sure that we’ve delivered the standards of care that our patients and their families expect.

For every case, we work with our expert colleagues in hospitals to receive technical and non-technical follow-up on our patients. This includes the results of tests such as CT and MRI scans, blood analysis, and tests that look for specific damage to organs such as the heart, brain, or lungs. Many of these vital assessments are carried out by teams of pathologists.

Where a very badly injured patient doesn’t survive their injuries or sudden illness, we work with their families through our Patient and Family Liaison Team to provide support in various ways in the weeks, months and years following the event. As we can all imagine and may have experienced, this is very often a hugely challenging time for those who suddenly lose someone who means so much to them.  We want to continue to do more for our families in the years ahead.

In addition, and behind the scenes, we make sure that there is a high degree of scrutiny of our medical interventions, often thinking about whether there would be any treatment anywhere in the world that might have been able to help in a different way. In this respect, our team keeps abreast of the most advanced innovations, as well as trying to lead the innovation agenda for challenges such as head injury and cardiac arrest. For many years, we have worked with pathologists, led by our own honorary consultant forensic pathologist, Dr Ben Swift, to help us reflect and learn.

Ben gives his time voluntarily to support our team case reviews, known as CPC (Clinicopathological Correlation) meetings. Ben also teaches on our induction course for new doctors and paramedics and works closely with HM Coroners to help us learn from the various processes that HM Coroner oversees. Our relationship with the local Coroners in Essex and Hertfordshire is strong, and all of us recognise that for families, a recurring reassurance is to know that medical teams are thinking about whether any more could have been done to help. In the overwhelming majority of cases, tiny details that sadly would not have changed the outcome, are worked through. Where there is any deeper learning, we would share this with our teams, and with families. This process, mirroring the learning processes from the aviation industry and elite sport, is incredibly important.

This year, on National Pathology Week, EHAAT would like to thank Ben for all his contributions to what we do. We are incredibly thankful to him for all his work. For our patients and their families, we pledge to continue to drive forward the medical care that we can bring to our patients in the most vital time of all, the very early minutes following injury and sudden illness.

Thank you for everything everyone does to support our charity.

Gareth

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