Lights out at TARN after 33 years: A better future as NMTR?

On the 31st March 2024 the Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) closed its doors for the last time. TARN originated in Manchester and Leeds 33 years ago when a group of clinicians, aware that there were delays to neurosurgery, decided that they would like to compare head injury outcomes. The group collected data on a spreadsheet, and then on a Microsoft Access database created in Leeds. At this time the Major Trauma Outcome Study (MTOS) was starting in the United States, so the group quickly adopted this approach to case mix adjustment. Based at the University of Manchester under the leadership of Prof David Yates and with able administration from Maralyn Woodford, TARN rapidly grew to include about half of the hospitals in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). The organisation took pride in being clinically led and independent.