More are staying alive due to quality of ICU

THE Princess Elizabeth Hospital's intensive care unit is among the best in the British Isles. An independent audit concluded that patients have a better chance of survival than at most of the 128 other units included in the survey.

While according to national statistics 24 out of every 100 patients admitted to the PEH are expected to die, the mortality rate in Guernsey is 17. For the other units it averaged 29.

Medical Associated Software House, an independent research organisation in critical care medicine set up in 1999 by a group of English-based doctors, carried out the audit.

Company consultant Tony Chang said Guernsey people who became seriously ill could have huge confidence in the high quality care they would receive in the ICU.

'It's a great result and my first reaction was 'wow',' he said.

The audit had pulled no punches. 'My job is to tell it like it is and not necessarily what the management want to hear,' he said.

He said his company was a research one that sold software to fund its work and as such was non-profit-making.

This is the sixth annual audit that it has carried out on the Guernsey unit.

Medical Specialist Group consultant anaesthetist Dr Gary Yarwood said the figure had shown no significant change to other years.

'The audit follows what happens to patients from admission to the time of discharge, whether they are alive or not,' he said. 'You can't cheat and every patient will be down there.'

Dr Yarwood was appointed to his current post in 1996.

'In those days we had no audit and only three beds,' he said.

The audit result would be difficult to improve, he said, as such a high standard of care had been achieved.

The audit programme is an international one backed by a huge database.

Mr Chang gave a presentation of the results to GPs, consultants and management of the Health and Social Services Department.

A standardised mortality rate is used to evaluate the overall performance of an ICU.

On admission, a patient is assessed as to how severely ill they are based on an internationally recognised classification scheme and values are aggregated in a single score.

The sum of all the scores divided by the number of patients will give an average, which is probability of death.

The PEH unit has four beds and there are a further three high dependency ones.

Patients in ICU receive a minimum of one-to-one nursing care.

Mr Chan said people were bombarded daily with financial news yet little was said about health care.

'In an open society, the performance of the local ICU should be everybody's concern as it is a matter of life or death,' he said. The laudable performance of the ICU, managed by a hard-working dedicated team of doctors and nurses and well supported by hospital management, has to be recognised publicly. Many Guernsey residents are alive due to the high quality of care at the PEH.'