Burns

The QVH Burns Unit is a key member of the South East Burns Network which covers Kent, Surrey, Sussex and parts of South London. It provides care for adults and children depending on severity.

In addition, we provide an outpatient clinic, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and psychological support, rehabilitation for patients recovering from major burn injury and reconstruction clinics to review healed burns. QVH is also expanding its service to managing vascular anomalies in children and adults.

The QVH Outreach Burns Service provides specialist care for those patients within the region with burns that are not able to be transferred to the Burns Unit or for those with smaller burns who can be managed as out-patients nearer to their homes.

The burns team prefer healthcare professionals to contact them directly by telephone (01342 414440) for advice and to speed up the referral of any acute or chronic burn injury for review. Patients with burn scars that impair function or are symptomatic can be referred into the adult or paediatric burn reconstruction clinic by referral letter or using Choose & Book.

Clinical effectiveness

In 2021 the burns service accepted 1,351 adult (16+) new referrals. We also accepted 697 paediatric burns referrals.

Length of inpatient stay of burns patients is related to the size of their burn, measured as a percentage of their body surface area. We aim that on average, adult patients under the age of 65 should require 1 day inpatient stay per 1% burn. Patients over 65 should require a two-day stay per 1% burn; the length of stay is often complicated by the requirement of complex social care packages which take time to arrange.

Full details of our patient safety, patient experience and clinical effectiveness measures are published in our annual Quality Report. Find the latest version here.

We also run a burns support group for people affected by burns (treated at QVH or other hospitals. You can find out more here.

Miss Tania Cubison

Specialist interests: Burns; scaring; lower limb trauma reconstruction; microsurgery

Miss Tania Cubison is a military plastic surgeon who first joined Queen Victoria Hospital as an SHO in 1996. Miss Cubison is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and is one of two military doctors currently posted to the trust. As one of a small number of regular army plastic surgeons Lt.Col.Cubison has an operational role and will occasionally be deployed overseas.

Miss Cubison underwent specialist registrar training in East Grinstead and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and was awarded the McGregor Gold medal for the FRCS (Plast) examination in 2006. She completed her training with a specialist burn fellowship at St Andrew’s Burn Centre, Chelmsford and visits to burn centres in the USA.

Specialises in lower limb trauma reconstruction and microsurgery, particularly the surgical management of amputees. She has recently been involved with the new technique of targeted muscle reinnervation, which is producing optimistic results in reduction of phantom pain and general stump pain in the amputee population.

Miss Cubison is the safeguarding lead for the Trust as well as medical director, and is very involved in outlooking at human factors and the influence on patient’s safety of team building and communication.

She is an active member of the British Burns Association and is currently the chair of the Senate for the Emergency Management of Severe Burns in the UK, as well as sitting on the Committee for the Trauma Interface Group. Miss Cubison is also a member of the Specialist Advisory Committee in Plastic Surgery, responsible for the training of the national trainees and has responsibility for less than full-time training, military trainees and also provides external support to the Yorkshire Deanery.

Mr Baljit Dheansa

Specialist interests: Burns; scarring; burn reconstruction; skin cancer; leg trauma; breast surgery; vascular anomalies.

Mr Baljit Dheansa was appointed as a Consultant Plastic Surgeon at the hospital in 2003 having trained at QVH as well as several London teaching hospitals.

He also works at Royal Sussex County Hospital to support the major trauma centre there and provides specialist plastic surgery input for complex cases there. He also runs burns clinics at Brighton for adults and children and has recently set up joint clinics with paediatric surgeons based at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

In addition to the burns service he has a keen interest in managing patients with skin cancer, leg trauma, breast surgery, as well as general plastic and reconstructive surgery. More recently he has also developed a sub specialist interest in vascular anomalies. He is a member of the Sussex Skin Cancer Network and South East Burns Network.  He is involved in many aspects of research being a member of the Research and Development Committee, and in several clinical trials in the field of burns, as well as supporting basic and translational science projects.

In addition to his Queen Victoria Hospital roles he is a member of the London and South East Burn Operational Delivery Network, British Burns Association Research Committee and the Scar Free Foundation Research Council.

Baljit is committed to training the plastic surgeons of the future and takes an active role in developing the skills of the junior doctor team. He is also an examiner for the specialist FRCS (Plast) examination.

Baljit is a key supporter of the innovative technologies developed at the hospital such as the excellent telemedicine system, having presented to the Parliamentary Health Select Committee on its benefits to patient care. He is a founding member of the British Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetics Innovation Special Interest Group which aims to help bring new ideas and innovative products to patients requiring plastic surgery.

Mr Paul Drake

Specialist interests: the treatment of burns, skin cancer and complex lower limb injuries.

Mr Paul Drake was appointed as a Consultant Plastic Surgeon at QVH in January 2018 and became clinical lead for burns in June 2022.

He is a graduate of both the University of Glasgow and University College London. Mr Drake trained throughout Scotland, completing his higher training in the Canniesburn Unit in Glasgow.

Mr Drake first came to QVH as a Senior Hand Surgery Fellow in 2014 before taking up the role as a Senior Burns Fellow at Mid Essex Hospital NHS Trust. He returned to QVH as a Senior Trauma & Reconstructive Fellow in 2016, before becoming a Consultant Plastic Surgeon at Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust (now known as University Hospitals Sussex).

Mr Drake is a member of the UK Faculty of Clinical Informatics and the British Burn Association.

Mr Drake has a keen interest in informatics, clinical audit, and data analysis. He is the Chief Clinical Information Officer for Queen Victoria Hospital and is a member of the Faculty of Informatics. He is also part of the prestigious NHS Digital Academy Leadership Programme.

Miss Rachael Harrison

Specialist interests: Burns surgery, hand surgery and lower limb trauma and reconstruction.

Miss Rachael Harrison was appointed as a Consultant Plastic Surgeon at QVH in September 2022, initially as a locum before being appointed substantively.

Miss Harrison graduated in Medicine from Imperial College London with a 1st Class honours in Surgery and Anaesthesia, following which she trained throughout London and completed higher Plastic surgery training in Yorkshire and Humberside.

Miss Harrison has completed both a Hand and Wrist fellowship at Frimley Health NHS Trust and an Extremity microsurgical fellowship at Imperial College NHS Foundation Trust. This gained her expertise in trauma, reconstruction and planned procedures for the upper and lower limb. She is a board-certified Plastic Surgeon, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and is on the GMC specialist register.

Miss Harrison was awarded the Blond McIndoe Research Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons of England for her research in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. She was awarded a PhD from Imperial College London for her work into gliding tissue interfaces to improve outcomes following hand surgery. Miss Harrison has an interest in translational research and has been involved in many large studies run by the Reconstructive Surgery Trials Network (RSTN). She looks to improve links between basic science research and clinical practice to ultimately optimise outcomes for patients.