Patient and relative experience
What is Critical Care
Critical care units are specialist hospital wards that treat patients who are seriously ill and need constant monitoring. These patients might, for example, have problems with one or more vital organ or be unable to breathe without support.
These units are staffed by specially trained health care professionals who work as a multidisciplinary team which include Doctors, Registered Nurses, Allied Health Professionals, Pharmacists and Support Staff. The critical care team are higly skilled and deliver intensive levels of care and treatment to critically ill patients.. There are also higher level of nursing ratios depending on the level of care the patient needs. Patients in these units are closely monitored and supported by high technology equipment, including ventilators that help patients breathe.
Critical care untis can vary in size , depending on factors such as the type and number of patients the unit expects to see and on the work and size of the hospital it is part of.
Recovery and Rehabilitation
For patients and relatives, the experience of critical illness is a traumatic experience which people who have not experienced it cannot understand. Recovery doesn't end when patients leave the critical care unit or even the hospital. It's only just beginning.
To get back to a normal life patients need support, rehabilitation and patience because it will take time, often a year or longer, to overcome the physical, emotional and cognitive consequences of critical illess. However, you're not alone. ICU STEPS (2024)
The sections below provide :
- Patient information on each critical care unit within CMCCN and details
- National and local support for critical care patients and relatives
- Patient Information on rehabilitation post critical care
Patient Experience within CMCCN
The views of our service users and carers are at the heart of improving the way we as a critical care network deliver patient care and services. Monitoring and improving care delivery through the eyes of people who use our services is the most effective way of knowing what we do well and what we can do better.
The network has established a multi-professional group to provide a forum for patient and relatives to work collaboratively with Cheshire and Mersey Critical Care Network and senior members of Multi-disciplinary team.
