Four injured passengers from the coach crash near Heathrow Airport at 23:45 on Wednesday 3^rd January were brought by ambulance to the Accident and Emergency Department at St. Peter’s Hospital, CHERTSEY, Surrey.

The patients brought to the hospital were:

·          a 76 year old female from Scotland – time of arrival 02:03a.m. – serious but stable and admitted to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) at St. Peter’s Hospital.

·          a 73 year old male from Scotland – time of arrival 02:25a.m. – discharged into the care of family during the course of the afternoon.

·          a 83 year old female from Scotland – time of arrival 02:05a.m – stable and transferred during the course of the afternoon to a hospital in Portsmouth to be nearer family.

·          a 40 year old male from Poland – time of arrival 02:15a.m. – serious but stable and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at St. Peter’s Hospital.

The type of injuries sustained by the patients include fractured clavicles, ribs and pelvic bones; dislocated shoulder and hip; lacerations and serious bruising.   All the patients have been conscious during the course of the day.   No change overnight is anticipated in the conditions of the two patients remaining at the hospital.

The Trust’s Major Incident Plan was activated overnight but the hospital was stood down when it became clear that further casualties would not be brought to the hospital.   The hospital, close by junction 11 of the M25, is ideally situated on the busiest stretch of motorway in the country to respond to this type of incident.

The on-call Director for the Trust, Antonia Ogden Meade (Director of Business Development and Performance) said earlier today: “The importance of testing our major incident emergency response arrangements has been demonstrated again.   We test our systems on a regular basis and were able to activate our medical teams quickly.   Thankfully we were able to stand our staff down after a short period but I would like to say a big thank you all our staff who were called out and responded.”