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national care standards: independent hospitals
22-25 Critical care services
22 Intensive care
23 High dependency care
24 Resuscitation
25 Support and care in dying and death
Intensive care
Standard 22
Whatever your needs for intensive care, you can be confident that the hospital and its staff will look after you safely. If you need constant nursing care, observation or life support equipment, this will be arranged for you in a hospital with intensive care facilities.
1 If you know beforehand that you are going to need intensive care nursing following your operation, you are admitted to a hospital that has a unit on site which satisfies best-practice principles and current guidelines.
2 You and your family can visit the unit and meet its staff before your operation.
3 You receive an explanation about the reasons for your stay in intensive care and the equipment to be used.
4 You and your family are encouraged to ask questions to allay any anxieties.
5 You and your family receive an update on your progress on a regular basis.
6 You know that all hospitals without intensive care facilities have arrangements to transfer patients to hospitals with these facilities, whenever the need arises.
7 If you unexpectedly need intensive care nursing in a hospital without this facility, you can be confident that life support equipment and suitably qualified staff will be available to stabilise and support you until transfer is arranged.
8 You and your family are kept closely informed about your transfer and the reasons for it.
9 You are accompanied by an appropriately qualified member of your healthcare team during your transfer.
10 You know that all professional staff working in the unit have critical care skills. You are treated under the guidance of a consultant who is a specialist in intensive care.
11 You know that the hospital offers open visiting to allow your family and friends to choose their times individually.
High dependency care
Standard 23
If you need close observation at any time during your admission to hospital, you can be confident that an area fully supplied with monitoring equipment will be provided, supported by professional staff with the appropriate skills.
1 You and your family (with your consent) are kept fully informed of the reasons for close observation.
2 You know how and when you can speak to your consultant specialist or any member of your healthcare team to discuss your progress.
3 You know that the hospital offers open visiting to allow your family and friends to choose their times individually.
4 You know that on each shift there is a nurse who takes particular responsibility for your care.
5 As soon as your condition is stabilised and it is safe to do so, you are moved back to your own care environment and encouraged to continue towards recovery.
Resuscitation
Standard 24
You can be confident that the hospital will have a skilled resuscitation team on duty 24 hours a day.
1 You know that the hospital follows a clear, written policy on the management of resuscitation. This takes account of best-practice guidelines, including those from the National Resuscitation Council.
2 You know that there is a team of clinical staff with the appropriate skills on duty at all times.
3 You know that the staff have regular drills to test their resuscitation skills which form the basis for future training programmes.
4 You know that all staff involved in your care have their resuscitation skills updated annually.
5 If your health status is such that resuscitation needs to be discussed, all the risks of resuscitation will be clearly set out to you and your family to enable you to reach decisions.
6 You know that your consultant specialist cannot make this decision without making every effort to involve you and your family.
7 Once a decision is reached, you can be confident that it will be communicated to all members of staff, both verbally and in a written record.
8 You know that any agreement regarding resuscitation will be reviewed.
Support and care in dying and death
Standard 25
You can be confident that staff will handle any death in the hospital with dignity, sensitivity, discretion and support.
1 If you are approaching death, you can say what you want to happen and who should be informed about your physical, personal and spiritual care in dying, death and funeral arrangements. You can be confident that your wishes will be carried out. The staff will make sure that your death is as free of pain as possible. You will be able to choose whether or not you wish to have someone with you when you die and who that person should be. Staff will make every effort to ensure this happens.
2 If you die, your body will be treated with dignity, sensitivity and respect, in accordance with your expressed social, cultural and religious preferences. Staff will make sure that your bereaved relatives, friends and carers can spend as much time with you after your death as they need to. They will support your relatives and friends through the formal processes relating to death, such as arrangements about belongings.
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