Within critical care there is a wide team of experienced staff who will care for the patient and when visiting you will see a whole variety of different uniforms. All members of staff should have a name badge which will state their name and role. Each patient will have a named nurse or registered nursing associate (RNA) directly looking after them. They may have one or two patients depending on the patients’ clinical condition. You will find the name of the nurse or the RNA at the back of the bed space and they often care for the patients for their whole shift.
On each unit you will also see:
Doctors
Intensivist consultants, registrars, senior house officers: led by consultants who specialise in intensive care, anaesthetics, respiratory medicine, and pain management. We have consultant cover 24 hours a day, with support from doctors at all stages of their training who are present daily on the unit. You may see a large group of doctors coming round to each bed space. This might seem alarming when you are visiting, but it is part of the ward round reviewing each patient. The doctors in critical care wear scrubs.
Consultants
- Dr Stephen Bates
- Dr Jon Bramall
- Dr Minet Carrington
- Dr Michael Chilvers
- Dr Pietro Ferranti
- Dr Kate Flavin
- Dr Sandra Gelvez-Zapata
- Dr Sunil Grover
- Dr Mark Hearn
- Dr Sunil Jamandarkhana
- Dr Anil Kambli
- Dr Baldeep Panesar
- Dr Venkat Prasad
- Dr Lucy Style
Clinical Support Workers (CSW)
CSWs help with personal care, support the nursing staff, assist in delivering meals, restocking items and generally help the unit run smoothly.
Nurse in Charge
An experienced nurse supporting the nurse at the bedside and co-ordinating each unit.
Advanced Critical Care Practitioners (ACCP)
Highly trained nurses who have completed an advanced training course. The ACCPs review patients, perform procedures and prescribe medication. Like all the junior doctors, they are supported by the critical care consultant team. The ACCPs wear grey scrubs on the unit.
Pharmacists
A team of pharmacists ensure all the medications our patients receive are correct. Due to the patients’ clinical condition, their regular medication may be withheld or changed. These decisions are made by the medical team with support from the unit pharmacists. You may see them in smart clothes on the unit following the ward rounds.
Dieticians
We have a team of dieticians who will review each patient on a weekday to ensure that we are achieving their nutritional requirements. Often patients in critical care may need extra support with nutrition which may be anything from build-up drinks, nutrition via a nasogastric tube or though the vein (TPN). The dieticians in critical care wear smart clothing.
Physiotherapists
A physiotherapy team reviews and provide interventions for our patients where needed. This may involve helping the patient clear chest secretions, mobilising them out of bed, performing limb movements, occasionally carry out stairs assessments, and on-call physios for chest issues overnight. Our physios on the unit wear white tunics with red piping.
During your time in critical care, you may also see doctors from different specialities, specialist nurses and radiographers. We also have a housekeeper, equipment personnel and domestics who help keep the units clean and well stocked.
Please be aware that due to the unpredictable nature of critical care, staff may be moved around to accommodate emergency admissions.
