Overview
Critical care
Critical care looks after people who need life support. It is also known as intensive care (ICU).
We care for people:
- after elective surgery, such as a heart or lung transplant
- who need emergency care after a serious illness, such as pnuemonia or a heart attack
- with severe organ failure
We care for people from around the UK. Our units are specially staffed, equipped and designed to closely monitor patients.
Different teams across the hospital review our patients regularly.
Our team includes:
- doctors
- nurses
- other health professionals
Areas of critical care
People in intensive care are often very sick and need close monitoring. Nurses care for patients one-to-one. Extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy is available for the most unwell patients.
People come to the ICU from:
- the emergency department
- our theatres, wards and other hospital departments
- from other hospitals
People come to high dependency units (HDU) from ICU where they continue their recovery.
Patients in HDU are often not as sick as those in ICU but still need close monitoring. They'll sometimes need treatments that general wards cannot provide. They then stay on a more general ward before going home.
In a HDU there is 1 nurse for every 2 patients.
People come to the HDU from:
- the emergency department
- our theatres, wards and other hospital departments
- from other hospitals
Our hospitals have critical care outreach teams. They provide early, skilled help to staff caring for people who deteriorate. They try to prevent further deterioration and, when appropriate, admit people to one of the ICUs.
Our outreach teams also review all discharges from the unit on to general wards.
ECMO is a temporary life support system used for people whose lungs have stopped working properly. Our ECMO pages have more information.
For more information about our critical care services visit our critical care website.
Wards
Our high dependency units at St Thomas' Hospital are on wards. They are managed separately from the wards.
Health information
Critical care and communicating with your family member
Our consultants
Ehsan Ahmadnia
Andrew Aswani
Aimee Brame
Helen Cahill
Nishita Desai
Nicholas Ioannou
Andrew Jones
Katie Lane
Richard Leach
Rebecca Lewis
Chris Meadows
Joel Meyer
Richard Paul
Joanne Petrie
Jonah Powell-Tuck
Andrew Retter
Michael Slattery
Farah Shariff
Andrew Slack
Simon Sparkes
Daniel Taylor
Ros Tilley
Helen Vollmer
Research and clinical trials
Research is vital to improving the care that you receive when you're unwell. You can help improve healthcare by taking part in research studies at our Trust. During your appointment, ask your health professional about research. They'll be happy to tell you about research studies you could be eligible to join.
You can also email criticalcareresearchnurses@gstt.nhs.uk for more information.
