Children’s care units’ staffing under par

The report by experts at Leeds and Leicester universities shows death rates in children’s intensive care units are low and are continuing to fall.

But in a snapshot survey only 13 of the 34 units in Britain and Ireland met new standards for nursing numbers set by the Paediatric Intensive Care Society.

A separate analysis of outcomes from units in England and Wales also found death rates for children with asthma who required help with their breathing were more than twice as high as in other developed countries.

Prof Elizabeth Draper, co-principal investigator of the Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (PICANet), based at Leicester, said: “Qualified nurse staffing levels have improved over time, with more than three quarters of paediatric intensive care units meeting the old standard.

“But following the revision of these standards in line with the recommendations of the Royal College of Nursing, fewer than 40 per cent of units now achieve the required levels of qualified nursing staff.”

The network looked at 52,000 admissions from 30 units of children aged up to 15 over a three-year period from 2008 to 2010.

It found the death rate was falling, dropping from 4.5 per cent in 2008 to 3.8 per cent in 2010.

It remains unusual for a child with asthma to need admission to intensive care.

Numbers treated grew 67 per cent between 2005 and 2010, with 1,640 admissions of children over the period. Two in five needed mechanical help with their breathing. The death rate in these children was 4.7 per cent compared to a rate of less than two per cent in Australia and the United States.

The Health Quality Improvement Partnership commissioned the report.