In 2023, NHSE London set up the London Major Trauma Psychology Network, in collaboration with the NHS Violence Reduction Programme, Specialised Commissioning and EPRR.
The purpose of the Major Trauma Psychology Service is to provide a comprehensive and integrated model of care for major trauma patients, providing both physical and psychological care after a traumatic injury. Approximately one third of patients that sustain a traumatic injury are understood to develop serious long term psychological disorders such as anxiety and PTSD, with 35% of trauma patients being unable to return to full time work. The intention of the Major Trauma Psychology Service is to provide front-end early identification and support of psychological need, to reduce the impact of poor mental health following trauma.
A further remit of the Major Trauma Psychology Service was to be able to scale-up services following a major incident or mass casualty event and to provide outreach guidance and support for bereaved families, witnesses, survivors, first responders and local communities affected by a traumatic incident.
The Major Trauma Psychology Service offers care to all major trauma patients with an inpatient stay of more than 24 hours. They also offer post-discharge care as routine, excepting patients with existing psychological care, such as patients on brain injury rehab pathways.