ABSTRACT
Presentations during Operations Herrick and Telic included burns, electrical injury, drowning, congenital disease including cardiac abnormalities, infectious diseases and the complications of treatment at other facilities. Regardless of the challenges presented, there were many examples of outstanding care delivered to children on operations, and outcomes were comparable to civilian paediatric major trauma centres. Great improvements in capability were made over the duration of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Paediatric decision-making was supported by access to the Kids Intensive Care Decision Support line, which facilitated conference calling with relevant paediatric specialties at the Birmingham Children's Hospital. A considerable amount of paediatric surgery was performed during both operations, practically all of which was performed by surgeons in adult National Health Service practice. Defence Medical Services personnel deployed on Operations Telic and Herrick were required to overcome the gap between the available capability and the clinical needs of severely injured or unwell children.
