%0 Journal Article
%T Trends in Demand for Acute Medical Care at Two Football Clubs over an Eighteen-Year Period
%A Thomas P. Heinink
%A Andrew W. Fogarty
%A Matthew D. Wiles
%J Advances in Emergency Medicine
%D 2014
%R 10.1155/2014/232706
%X Introduction. Following the Hillsborough disaster, there is a requirement for crowd doctors to be present during football matches. However, there are little data on long-term trends in utilisation of crowd doctor services at sporting events. Methods. A retrospective service evaluation of presentations to the crowd doctor for 18 consecutive English Football League seasons: 13 seasons at Northampton Town Football Club (NTFC) followed by five seasons at Leicester City Football Club (LCFC). Data were analysed to determine the reason for, and severity of, presentation and the magnitude of the intervention required. Results. There were 429 recorded presentations to the crowd doctor over the 18 seasons. Patients¡¯ age ranged from 3 to 93 years. 76% of presentations were due to an injury or illness arising at the match. The majority of presentations were with minor ailments (76%) requiring only minor intervention (88%); there were a small number of life-threatening presentations (1%) including three cardiac arrests. Conclusion. Crowd doctors may see patients in all age groups, presenting in a variety of ways. Most patients will have minor symptoms, but occasionally patients present with life-threatening problems. The crowd doctor must be competent assessing and treating all of these potential patient groups and pathologies. 1. Introduction Following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 where 96 football supporters lost their lives, the Gibson report [1] was published which recommended the institution of standards for medical cover at football stadia. The guidelines stated that a suitably trained crowd doctor should be present at every match where the crowd is expected to exceed 2000 spectators, with the additional need for an ambulance in attendance for matches with a crowd of 5000 or more. Despite these recommendations, nine years after the publication of the Gibson report almost half of crowd doctors working at Scottish football stadia had not attended relevant resuscitation courses [2]. There is now increased focus on the need for adequate medical cover at mass event gatherings, with the standards of the medical cover for professional football matches now being applied to all competitive sporting fixtures attended by spectators [3]. This guidance emphasises the importance of risk assessment in the provision of spectator safety, but there is little data regarding the utilisation of crowd doctor services at sporting events and, in particular, whether the standards set over 20 years ago are still adequate for demands today. During the season 2011/2012, almost 35
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aem/2014/232706/