Intensive care clinic opens at hospital

Staff at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Trust say patients who have received 24-hour intensive care surrounded by life support equipment can feel the impact, both physically and psychologically, of it being removed once they have been discharged.

To help them adjust, a new clinic run by the critical care outreach team at Scunthorpe General Hospital will be opened to review patients who have received intensive care.

Sister Nicola Morton said: “The aim of the new monthly nurse-led clinic is to improve the rehabilitation of this group of patients, resulting in a quicker recovery, reducing the risk of re-admission to hospital and improving their quality of life.

“Sometimes all a patient needs is someone to sit down with them and talk through their admission to the unit, explaining certain aspects of the care they received and why. They may just need to come back onto the unit and have a look round to make sense of jumbled memories.

“Patients could be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and it is very important that this is recognised early so they can be referred for counselling and provided with additional support.”

Ms Morton said a three-month pilot clinic run by the team, which saw more than 20 patients receiving help, had been a success.

She said: “One patient said the clinic gave them ‘peace of mind and understanding about what happened and what treatment was given’.

“Another person said it gave them a real boost to how they felt as they were able to talk through the events as to why they were on the unit with someone who listened, understood and could explain things to them.”

The clinic will open next week and a similar unit will be launched later this year at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby.