The Emergency Department
Southampton General Hospital is a terঞary referral centre and the regional Major Trauma Centre; all
specialঞes are represented on this site with the excepঞon of burns, plasঞcs and spinal cord
rehabilitaঞon which are managed at Salisbury District Hospital.
Major Trauma Centre
Southampton General Hospital is a designated major trauma
centre, and is one of only two places in the south of England to
offer adults and children full onsite major trauma care provision.
The major trauma system operates in the South of
England to provide high quality specialist trauma
care and rehabilitaঞon across the region.
Adults and children suffering major trauma in Southampton, Hampshire, the
Isle of Wight or Portsmouth are assessed by the ambulance crew. They are
taken directly to the major trauma centre at Southampton General Hospital if
it is safe to do so, rather than the local emergency department.
Our helipad, on the north-east corner of the Southampton
General Hospital site, allows access straight to the doors of the
emergency department. It is one of the few helipads in the UK
that can receive criঞcally ill paঞents 24 hours a day.
Helicopter Emergency Medical Services
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA) brings an advanced criঞcal care team to sick and
injured people in emergency situaঞons across the area.
On 1 November 2018, a partnership was formalised between UHS as the major trauma centre for the
southern region, HIOWAA and South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundaঞon Trust (SCAS).
The air ambulance charity is fully responsible for funding the service, while UHS manages and provides clinical
governance for the criঞcal care teams of doctors and paramedics. SCAS conঞnues as the dispatch authority.
Paঞents stay in Southampton unঞl they are
stable, before transferring to a local trauma
unit closer to home, or another appropriate
specialist rehabilitaঞon for ongoing care.