Guidelines for Tertiary ICU Services

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Guidelines for Invasive device insertion

GI

DBI

Burns

Trauma

Tranfers

These checklists, reports, guidelines and pathways (“Guidelines”) have been developed by North Bristol NHS Trust to help its clinicians make informed decisions about their patients. They have been shared on this website as guidance for those referring patients for ICU services in a tertiary setting. Importantly, these Guidelines:

- are not intended to (and should never) substitute a clinician’s own judgement in diagnosis, treatment and/or referrals; - do not indicate an exclusive course of action or standard of care; 
- do not replace or remove the need for clinical judgement or the professional care and duty necessary for each individual presentation;
- do not account for variations based on locality and facility type, resources or patient characteristics; and
- should be used by trained medical professionals only. They are not intended for use by anyone else (including patients) and must not be relied on as professional medical advice.

Where possible, these Guidelines are developed by a multidisciplinary team of practising clinicians by consensus and based on the evidence available. However, the Guidelines do not necessarily represent the views of all clinicians at the North Bristol NHS Trust or other healthcare practitioners / organisations. Guidelines users always are urged to seek out newer information that might impact the diagnostic and treatment recommendations contained within these Guidelines.

The inclusion of links to external websites does not constitute an endorsement by North Bristol NHS Trust of those websites nor the information or services offered.

Whilst considerable effort has (and continues to be) made to ensure the information upon which these Guidelines are based is accurate and up to date. Users of the Guidelines are strongly recommended to confirm that the information contained within them, especially drug doses, is correct by way of independent sources. North Bristol NHS Trust accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies, information perceived as misleading, or the success or failure of any treatment regimen detailed in the Guidelines.

Pelvic Floor Repair Surgery

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Ensuring the welfare and safety of our patients is our main priority.

We are continuing a detailed investigation into concerns that have been raised regarding certain pelvic floor repair procedures which are performed to treat rectal prolapse and as part of this process we are writing to invite patients who have had similar surgery for an independent clinical review of their treatment.

We would like to reassure our patients that we are taking this matter very seriously.

Any patients who have concerns about pelvic floor procedures at Southmead Hospital can contact our helpline on 0117 4140844.

Antimicrobial Reference Laboratory Contacts

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Antimicrobial Reference Laboratory
Level 2, Phase 1, Pathology Sciences Building
Southmead Hospital
Westbury-on-Trym
Bristol
BS10 5NB

Telephone: 0117 4146269 or 0117 4146220

Fax: 0117 4146282

Email: ARLEnquiries@nbt.nhs.uk

Test Information

Sample vials for testing

Includes details of sample types, volumes, special precautions, turnaround times & reference ranges.

Antimicrobial Reference Laboratory Contacts

ICU Useful Links

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ICU STEPS
ICUsteps was founded in 2005 by ex-patients, their relatives and ICU staff to support patients and their families through the long road to recovery from critical illness.

It aims are to:

  • support patients and relatives affected by critical illness
  • promote recognition of the physical and psychological consequences of critical illness through education of the medical profession and the general public, and
  • encourage research into treatment and the prevention of these issues.

For more information visit icusteps.org

NHS Choices Information about Intensive Care
For more information visit www.nhs.uk/conditions/intensive-care/pages/introduction

Intensive Care Society
Resources for patients and relatives including critically ill patient’s stories.

For more information visit www.ics.ac.uk/ICS/patients-and-relatives

Healthtalk.org
Patient experiences of intensive care.

For more information visit www.healthtalk.org/peoples-experiences/intensive-care/intensive-care-patients-experiences/topics

Learning from Deaths

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Learning from deaths of people in their care can help hospitals improve the quality of the care they provide to patients and their families, and identify where they could do more.

In March 2017, the National Quality Board (NQB) introduced new guidance for NHS providers on how they should learn from the deaths of people in their care.

The purpose of the guidance is to help standardise and improve the way acute, mental health and community trusts identify, report, review, investigate and learn from deaths, and engage with bereaved families and carers in this process.

At North Bristol NHS Trust we have been working with our clinical teams so that we meet the requirements of the new guidance. Our aim is to improve the care of our patients by identifying learning from excellent care at the end of life as well as identifying areas where we need to make improvements.

Download and read 

ICU Simulation

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Southmead Hospital ICU Simulation Training.
The ICU at North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) is unique in being the only ICU in the country with dedicated simulation facilities within the unit. We have two patient rooms, each with a Laerdal manikin set up for simulation training. The rooms lend themselves towards Critical Care training, but we also have equipment to run anaesthetic and trauma based scenarios.

We currently host a number of dedicated courses, predominantly Critical Care based, but also anaesthetic, trauma, surgery and general ward based simulation. These courses include:

  • the Transport Course (multi-disciplinary course dealing with Critical Care transfers)
  • New2ICU (regional critical care course for junior doctors)
  • the Acute Critical Care Practitioner Course (a nursing course leading to a postgraduate qualification).