Care unit praised by UK consultant

THE Princess Elizabeth Hospital's intensive care unit has been rated one of the best in the British Isles. As part of an annual review, independent UK consultant Tony Chang said that the department provided a high quality of care for its patients.

He said that fundamental to the success was a strong, well-structured and experienced clinical team.

'The intensive care unit is up alongside the best in the British Isles,' he said.

'They have a very good clinical team. You have to have a good structure in place because the people you are dealing with are critically ill, so it is crucial to have a good team and the unit in Guernsey has very experienced staff and a strong nursing team.'

Intensive care unit director Dr Gary Yarwood was pleased.

'The results show that we are maintaining the high standards that we reached over the last few years,' he said.

'These reviews are completely independent and if there was anything wrong, Mr Chang would highlight it. But this shows that across the board we are doing well and are able to hold up our head.'

Mr Chang, who works as an intensive care unit auditor, said that across the world the average performance of a unit was measured by the standardised mortality ratio. It measures the performance of the department by comparing the number of people who die after treatment with those who would be expected to die prior to care.

Mr Chang said a unit ratio of 1.00 would indicate that everybody who was expected to die when they entered the department would do so, but this was still a good score.

The PEH ratio for 2003 was 0.63 - a level that Mr Chang said was highly impressive.

'The ratio is one of the best in the British Isles. It is very, very good and shows that the number of deaths in the unit is much less than would have been expected,' he said.

During 2003, there were no deaths resulting from elective (planned) surgery, a result that Mr Chang described as brilliant.

Dr Yarwood said that the audit was extremely useful in analysing the entire unit.

'The reviews are also useful because they encompass the entire department and give us a chance to evaluate each area in great detail.'

Mr Chang, who has been visiting the island for last five years, added that he had witnessed steady but consistent improvement.

'I try to highlight some of the key problems each year and put forward recommendations and, on the whole, these are addressed by the staff each year.'

In the past, he had highlighted in particular the need for an increase in the number of critical beds and was delighted to see work under way. Mr Chang said the increase in beds from three to seven by 2005 would create more reserve space and give staff greater flexibility.