Transfer Group
Adult critical care transfer need coordination, triage, decision-support and transfer of critically ill patients.
These transfers are carried out safely in the hands of highly skilled critical care unit staff who are trained to monitor and manage the needs of the patient during the transfer.
Furthermore specialised equipment is also needed to transfer critically ill patients.
It is vital that critically ill or injured patients are treated rapidly in an acute hospital, in order to stabilise them or limit their injuries. However, there are several instances when such management may be followed by further (secondary) transfer to another acute hospital:
Clinical transfer
When the facilities needed for treatment are not available at the initial hospital and specialist care is needed at a highly specialist hospital.
Capacity transfer
When the initial hospital has not got critical care bed capacity and/or staffing to provide the necessary care and the patient may need to be transferred to the nearest critical care bed within CMCCN. These types of transfers are done in exceptional circumstances and are done on a case by case basis. Capacity transfers are also required to be reported to the CMCCN core team to investigate further.
Repatriation
Highly specialised hospitals have to continually prioritise for their critical care beds, to ensure they can treat the next patient who needs their specialist care. They also have a large catchment area for their services which can include other regions. Repatriations are transferring patients that no longer require that specialist treatment. Patients may also be moved back to hospitals nearer to their home and family. In these cases, patients will have had their specialist treatment, are almost always stable and the transfer may involve a step-down in the level of their care.
Critical Care Transfer Training
All critical care staff who are involved in critical care transfers are required to undertake the NW Critical Care Network transfer training course called Safe Critically Ill Transfer Training (SCITT) further information on this training is below.
CMCCN Transfer group
The CMCCN transfer group is a multiprofessional group who have critical care transfer expertise. They focus on ensuring that all transfers carried out within CMCCN are as safe as possible. For more information about our transfer group please see group information section.
CMCCN Transfer Vehicle
With NHSE funding, CMCCN along with LHCH NHS Foundation Trust current host and coordinate a critical care transfer vehicle service for all units within CMCCN. Further information about this service can be found below.
