Intensive Care Unit
We specialise in caring for patients whose conditions are life-threatening, either through serious injury or illness, and require expert medical and nursing care that cannot be provided elsewhere in the hospital.
We work closely with other departments in the hospital particularly A&E, theatres, acute care unit and rehabilitation ward.
Services offered:
- continuous monitoring of heart function
- special drugs to maintain blood pressure - support the heart and other organs
- non-invasive ventilation - where breathing is supported using a special oxygen mask attached to a breathing machine
- invasive ventilation - where breathing is taken over (or supported by) a breathing machine via a special tube passed through the mouth or in some cases the neck (tracheostomy) into the lungs
- kidney dialysis - where a machine can take over the role of the kidneys to help excrete body waste products. This is usually where the kidneys have failed
- we can also do a number of tests at the bedside such as blood testing, x-ray, as well as using portable scanning machines (to assess the status of the internal organs).
We are a ten-bedded unit including two isolation rooms. We provide 24-hour medical cover through five consultants, with assistance from specialist registrars and over 40 nurses.
We work with other therapy services including physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, the acute pain service, dietitians, phlebotomy and radiography.