New hyperbaric unit to support Navy diving operations
3 Mar 10
A new Hyperbaric Medicine Unit (HMU) has been officially opened at St Richard's Hospital in Chichester in a joint initiative for the treatment of decompression illness in Royal Navy divers.
Vice Admiral Richard Ibbotson with Hyperbaric Medicine Unit staff inside the hyperbaric chamber
[Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Keith Morgan, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
Decompression illness, commonly known as 'the bends', can cause serious health problems following a diving accident.
QinetiQ operates the hyperbaric chamber on behalf of the MOD and employs a medical director, technical staff, a paramedic and three hyperbaric nurses.
The Institute of Naval Medicine provides medical officers with hyperbaric expertise and Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust provides support services including the intensive care unit and other medical services required to look after the patients between treatments.
The HMU's primary purpose is an emergency facility to treat Royal Navy and civilian divers; however, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which delivers oxygen at greater than atmospheric pressure, is now recognised as a successful treatment for a number of conditions, when used with medical and surgical interventions.
Vice Admiral Richard Ibbotson declares the Hyperbaric Medicine Unit open
[Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Keith Morgan, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
And following registration of the HMU with the Care Quality Commission the HMU will be able to accept a full range of patients for hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Neville Salkeld, Managing Director of QinetiQ's Consulting Division, said:
"QinetiQ is helping to save lives and time by providing emergency treatments for divers and enhancing healing in wounds, for example, which can make a lot of people better quicker and reduce time spent in hospital recovering.
"By working with our friends in the Trust and in the MOD to revitalise the HMU we are all delivering value for money for the taxpayer."
Vice Admiral Richard Ibbotson talks with Hyperbaric Medicine Unit staff
[Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Keith Morgan, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
Deputy Commander-in-Chief Fleet, Vice Admiral Richard Ibbotson, added:
"The HMU is a crucial facility the MOD maintains as part of the care we provide for Royal Navy and other Service personnel.
"With our Naval Diving Unit based just down the coast at Portsea, St Richard's is an ideal location for this facility but it also enables the benefits of this technology to be made available as widely as possible given its applications in civilian cases.
"Such treatments also importantly help to maintain the specialist skills of our Service medical personnel in hyperbaric medicine."
The HMU forms part of the Maritime Strategic Capability Agreement, a fifteen-year contract between the MOD and QinetiQ, for the latter to provide a range of specialist scientific and engineering services to support maritime projects across the MOD and Royal Navy.