Faculty of Intensive Care – Critical Futures

17 Sep 2014

There is an opportunity for those involved in this area, to comment on the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine forward-looking review of critical care services in the UK by way of a survey. Further details on how to participate are contained in a letter below from Dr Peter Nightingale, the Chair of the Critical Futures Steering Group.

The Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, supported by the other relevant professional organisations comprising the Critical Care Leadership Forum, have commissioned a forward-looking review of critical care services in the UK to build upon the work of Comprehensive Critical Care: A Review of Adult Critical Care Services (CCC), which was published by the Department of Health in 2000 and introduced a range of measures aimed at improving the care of critically ill patients and addressing pressures that faced critical care services at that time; and upon Quality Critical Care: Beyond Comprehensive Critical Care (QCC), which was published in 2005 by the then Critical Care Stakeholder Forum and which reinforced a number of CCC’s recommendations in addition to augmenting these with further proposals.

With this review we hope to identify emerging challenges for UK critical care that need to be addressed in the medium to longer term (i.e. 5-10 years hence). This work is not a duplication of the Guidelines for the Provision of Intensive Care Services (GPICS) (2015), nor, within England, the NHS Five Year Strategy, but is intended to help inform future editions of GPICS and decision making concerning clinical training, commissioning and organisation. To assist with this review, I would be grateful to hear your views on pressures identified both nationally and locally and how they might be addressed. The survey also asks a small number of questions regarding the implementation of CCC and QCC recommendations and how appropriate you feel they remain for meeting contemporary and future challenges to the delivery of critical care services.

I would be grateful if you could complete the survey. The deadline is 9am on Tuesday 1 September. I am conscious of the fact that in the years since CCC was published there have been a number of clinical, operational and staffing developments (for example, ‘care bundles’, goal directed therapies, new practitioner roles, central venous line infection monitoring etc.) that were not anticipated in 2000, but which have been adopted in many Intensive Care Units. Whilst we are not directly considering these developments at this time, we invite comment on the extent to which CCC recommendations may have assisted or hindered the implementation of these initiatives in your region, as well as your input on how you see UK critical care services evolving. This will allow us to take your views into account as we develop our thoughts.

The survey is structured into categories relating to Patient Experience, Safety and Outcomes; Staffing and Training; and Organisation and Service Delivery. Please answer each question and enter as much comment as you wish. Please note that sections of the survey can be completed individually and the document returned to later for completion (please bear this in mind if you are using a public or group-use computer). If you wish to submit articles, references or other supplementary material then please do so via ficm@rcoa.ac.uk.

Thank you,
Dr Peter Nightingale
Critical Futures Steering Group Chair

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