From the MoD:

Military medical techniques saving lives at home

Published 17 October 2013

A lifesaving process, inspired by military practices, has been introduced by a UK major trauma centre to treat critically ill patients.

A Medical Emergency Response Team carrying out lifesaving work in Afghanistan

The major trauma centre at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, has launched a new streamlined patient pathway based on military medical techniques honed in Afghanistan to improve the survival rates of patients with gunshot or stab wounds. It is believed to be the first major trauma centre in the UK to take this new approach.
Based on a protocol developed at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan in 2005 to treat the most seriously injured casualties as quickly as possible, the process involves bypassing the resuscitation room and taking casualties straight to theatre for surgery to stem bleeding and improve the chances of recovery.

The pathway, called ‘rapid resuscitation transit’, was developed by senior trauma clinicians at St Mary’s Hospital in collaboration with military doctors hosted by the Imperial College Healthcare National Health Service (NHS) Trust to work in its hospitals.

A soldier receives treatment for a gunshot wound to his upper arm on operations (library image) [Picture: Corporal Ralph Merry RAF, Crown copyright]

Rapid resuscitation transit aims to reduce the ‘knife to skin’ time – the length of time between a patient’s arrival at an emergency department and potentially lifesaving surgery – by streamlining medical investigations.

When a patient with gunshot or stab wounds arrives at the major trauma centre, investigations and tests are prioritised and limited to the most crucial, such as taking a single blood sample and carrying out essential scans....