Intensive care

Specially trained health professionals care for our ICU patients with sophisticated monitoring equipment.

Our intensive care team manages the care of the patient, whilst consulting with the original team who admitted them into hospital and any other specialists they think will help the patient’s recovery.

What to expect

The ICU can be quite a frightening place to visit as the patients here are very sick and need a lot of machines to help them. The unit can be quite noisy, which can be unsettling. There may be beeping noises or even an occasional alarm sound. This is normal and does not necessarily mean something is wrong.

Your relative might look very different as they may be attached to a lot of machines to help the staff monitor their condition or to help them with their recovery. This sight can be upsetting and confusing for visitors to the unit but the staff are there to help you and explain anything you don’t understand.

Support and aftercare

Leaving ICU

As your relative starts to get better, they will need fewer machines to help them with normal body functions and they won’t need to be monitored so closely.

Your relative will probably be very weak and find moving around difficult and very tiring at first, so a physiotherapist will probably give them exercises to do to start getting their strength back.

When they are well enough, your loved one will be moved onto a general ward. This can be a difficult time for them as they will not be getting the one on one nursing they were getting in Intensive Care. They may have to learn how to do basic things again, such as walking, eating, drinking or even breathing for themselves. They will still be looked after by nurses and doctors, but the care will not be as personal as before. However they are visited by our Critical Care Outreach Team on a daily basis who will ease their transition to the ward and monitor them closely.When you move onto a general ward, there will be a written plan for your care. This will include:

a record of your treatment in ICU
a monitoring plan to make sure you keep getting better
a plan for your ongoing treatment
details of your physical and psychological recovery needs

Visiting times on a general ward will not be as flexible as they were in ICU which can be distressing for you and your loved one at first. It may take a while to get back into a normal sleep pattern after ICU, but this will return in time.

You may want to bring your relative a personal music player with headphones to help them relax and keep them occupied while they carry on recovering.