Natasha appointed to lead the trauma network

East Kent Hospitals trauma director Dr Natasha Newton has been appointed as clinical director for the South East London, Kent and Medway (SELKaM) trauma network.

The network is one of 25 across the country and has King's College Hospital as its major trauma centre, with district general hospitals such as William Harvey Hospital feeding into it.

Natasha, who will continue her roles as trauma director and consultant anaesthetist with the Trust, is one of the nine doctors who form the London Major Trauma System leadership panel and said it was an exciting opportunity.

She said: “It is a role where I am confident I can make a difference for our patients and our colleagues.

“Most of the clinical directors are from the major trauma centres such as Kings; it is rare to have someone from a trauma unit, which is what we are, appointed to this job.

“But I think I can offer a different perspective. I will be able to identify if something is not feasible for a general hospital.”

Natasha has previously held the position of deputy clinical director, and has worked in most of the hospitals that are part of the network, including at Kings.

She will now be responsible for overseeing the work of the network, including carrying out peer inspections, and is answerable to the London major trauma system, then NHS England’s national team. The work of the network features in Channel 4 documentary Emergency, with two series available to watch and a third due to air this month.

She said: “It is definitely exciting, and a challenge.

“Going forward, I want to network the network, and allow people from the different hospitals to dial into Kings for trauma meetings to discuss patients who may be with them on the wards waiting to be transferred. 

“I also want to encourage more standardisation and sharing of ideas, so we aren’t all trying to reinvent the same wheel.

“It’s really important that we involve the whole multidisciplinary team; it’s lovely as a trauma doctor to be able to save someone’s life in the immediate aftermath but you need the whole team for their recovery, including trauma nurses and the therapy team. I want to create a forum to share ideas.”