Five-year anniversary for service which transfers critically ill patients across the South West
Retrieve, the South West Adult Critical Care Transfer Service, has celebrated its fifth anniversary.
The service transfers critically ill and injured adults between hospitals across the South West and beyond. It is funded by NHS England South West and hosted by University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW).
Retrieve provides critical care for patients who need to access specialist treatment not available in the referring hospital as well as returning people to their local hospitals after treatment.
Launching in 2020, Retrieve became a 24-hour service in 2024 following their busiest year ever. It was also the year they moved to their new Bristol location, a shared critical care transfer base with SoNAR and WATCh (the neonatal and paediatric critical care transfer services) near Aztec West.
The service has a consultant-led team with dedicated clinical staff, vehicles and equipment and has bases in Bristol and Launceston in Cornwall.
Dr Scott Grier, clinical director for the service, said: “I am incredibly proud of everything our team has achieved over the past five years. We knew when we launched Retrieve would be a game-changing service for people in the South West and we have dramatically improved the care patients receive during transfer.
“As one of the first services to provide this kind of care to adult patients in England, we have led the way nationally and shown what can be achieved.
“We could not have done this without the support of our NHS England colleagues and our host UHBW.”
In the last year, Retrieve received over 1,500 referrals and completed over 1,200 transfers which would previously have been undertaken by the regional 999 ambulance service. As Retrieve looks ahead, it continues to focus upon ensuring it delivers a consistent and resilient service to its patients and service users.