21 December 2010 (updated 6 January 2011)
As the number of people with swine flu has increased over the last two weeks, Royal Brompton Hospital is working with four other hospitals around the country to provide additional ECMO (Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) services. Our doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff are experts in their chosen field and regularly treat patients with complex respiratory and cardiac conditions. This means that they have the highly specialised skills and knowledge needed to treat patients on ECMO.
ECMO uses an artificial lung to oxygenate the blood outside the body, preventing further damage while the lungs recover. Some people with swine flu or other conditions can develop acute respiratory problems and may benefit from being treated on ECMO.
ECMO is a complex procedure which is only performed by highly trained specialist teams. Care of ECMO patients demands a multi-disciplinary approach and involves thoracic surgeons, anaesthetists, radiographers, perfusionists, physiotherapists and other specialist staff.
Royal Brompton Hospital opened its ECMO unit last year providing a crucial critical care service for vulnerable patients from across the UK. Our intensive care experts travelled around the country to ‘retrieve’ critically ill patients who could not be treated with ECMO at their local hospital. This involved staff providing complex life saving care on the road and in the air during a patient’s transfer to Royal Brompton.
Dr Simon Finney, adult intensive care consultant, Royal Brompton Hospital, said: “Being designated as an ECMO unit again this year, has enabled Royal Brompton’s intensive care unit to increase its capacity to treat patients with swine flu and other serious respiratory conditions.
“Since stepping up our ECMO service in the last two weeks, swine flu patients from around the country have been transferred to the hospital’s intensive care unit. ECMO has been a co-ordinated effort and has involved training critical care staff to provide this highly complex treatment. Staff have had to adapt their skills and take on extra work, while still providing critical care to our respiratory patients and patients who may have had complex heart or lung surgery.
“Nurses in particular have had to tailor their skills and work flexibly to meet the demands of delivering ECMO on the unit. They must be congratulated on the continuous seamless care and treatment that they are providing to all our patients.
“We are one of only five units in the country to be accredited by the NHS. This means that we were able to bring together, in one place, the technology and the expertise of our staff, to provide the best patient care possible.”
The National Specialised Commissioning Team, part of NHS Specialised Services, is coordinating ECMO services nationally with clinicians at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester. ECMO services are also available at Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
You can read more about Royal Brompton Hospital’s ECMO unit online @ The Independent and Channel 4.
BBC's Newsnight programme on Wednesday 5 January 2011 reported on the current swine flu situation and featured Royal Brompton's adult intensive care unit. Watch the coverage (starting 14 minutes into the programme).
