The added value of a telereferral system for burns is recognised internationally, but for the various technical and information governance obstructions to its generalised use in the NHS have only recently been overcome by system developed with one of our industry partners. Full documentation of the system is available for the system currently being rolled out nationally.
During the conflict in Kosovo in 1989 the Army used simple email contact to send images back to the UK burn service in Manchester for advice and guidance.
In 2003 the NHS Modernisation Agency funded a number of projects put forward by services. This led to four tele-referral pilots being developed for burns and plastic surgery services in East Grinstead, Manchester, Preston and Wakefield. The loss of funding to maintain the systems caused the latter two systems to be lost but the other two persisted.
In 2011 a review of existing systems was undertaken by the National Network for Burn Care (NNBC). This found that the existing systems carried a significant administrative load for participating clinical teams and advocated the creation of a system with several key features:
It was recognised at the time that the state of web-based systems could not fulfil all of these at that time.
The NNBC supported a bid for funding to develop such a system put forward by the specialised services commissioner in the North West region.
From 2013 the system was developed under the work programme of the Burn Care Informatics Group (BCIG). A system was first used for spinal cord injury referrals in 2014 and subsequently developed with first burn injury then plastic surgery referrals to be managed.
The system was ready for going live for burn injury in May 2017 in Manchester.
The burn injury telereferral system was initaily rolled out across the North of England in from August 2017 to 2018.
In April 2020 it was rolled out across the South West Burn Care Network.
In December 2023 it was first used in the South East and London Burn Care Network at the Chelsea and Westminster burn service.