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Critical care

Critical care is the treatment and monitoring of people who are in a critically ill or unstable condition. The critical care team supports the care of inpatients across all our specialities.
 
The critical care department offers the following services:

Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

Our intensive care unit provides compassionate, quality care for critically ill patients with complex needs. We provide care for those requiring advanced respiratory support (ventilation), advanced renal support (haemofiltration) and other complex therapies.
 
Patients receive one to one or one to two nursing, depending on their needs. A doctor is available at all times and patients are also seen regularly throughout the day by the intensive care consultant.
 
Nursing staff on the unit are all specially trained to a high level and patients are seen daily by a multi-disciplinary team, the physiotherapists, dieticians and others as necessary to meet their needs.

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Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
Purple zone
Level 3 

 

The Medical High Dependency Unit (MHDU) is a state-of-the-art ward caring for level two critically ill medical patients.

The Unit is comprised of six beds - five in a shared open bay and one side room. Our patients are largely referred to us from accident and emergency, Medical Assessment Unit (MAU) and the general medical wards, but we also provide step-down care to patients discharged from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) requiring intermediate treatment and monitoring prior to discharge to a general ward.

We provide a wide range of specialist medical care which includes advanced non-invasive respiratory support (vapotherm, bi-level positive airway pressure and continuous positive airway pressure), advanced cardiovascular support (including inotropes) and continuous monitoring of vital signs (including both arterial and central monitoring).

Levels of care

Level 0 Patients whose needs can be met through normal ward care in an acute hospital.
Level 1 Patients at risk of their condition deteriorating, or those recently relocated from higher levels of care whose needs can be met on an acute ward with additional advice and support from the critical care team.
Level 2 Patients requiring more detailed observation or intervention including support for a single failing organ system or postoperative care, and those stepping down from higher levels of care.
Level 3 Patients requiring advanced respiratory support alone or basic respiratory support together with support of at least two organ systems. This level includes all complex patients requiring support for multi-organ failure.

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Medical High Dependency Unit
The unit is situated adjacent to the Medical Admissions Unit (MAU)
Brown zone
Level 2

Patients are admitted to the Surgical High Dependency Unit (Trafalgar) for a variety of reasons. This may include the complex nature of their surgical procedure, their existing medical conditions, or they may be stepping down from the intensive care unit and will need more complex monitoring and intervention prior to going back to the general wards.

The unit provides a range of critical care which includes non-invasive ventilatory support using equipment such as Vapotherm, CPAP and BiPAP (ventilation devices used for treatment of sleep apnea and a host of other respiratory and cardiac problems), advanced cardiovascular support including the use of inotropic drugs (drugs that affect the strength of contraction of heart muscle) and the continuous monitoring of vital signs including arterial and central monitoring.

The Trafalgar surgical high dependency unit has ten beds, two bays and two side rooms. The bays are kept to single sex wherever possible. 

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Surgical High Dependency Unit (Trafalgar)
Green zone
Level 3

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