Why we need your help
Recovering from a life-threatening illness or injury is a long and hard journey. We want to do everything possible to help our patients recover better.
What is critical care?
In critical care – also known as intensive care – we look after people with life-threatening conditions, including those on life support. Because our patients need so much attention, each nurse cares for one patient only.
Life-saving treatment is only the start of what we do though. We help seriously ill patients through the toughest times of their lives and support them to recover and get back to their old self as much as possible. But we know we can do more to make staying in critical care better. So we are building King’s Critical Care Centre, designed to dramatically reduce the damaging effects of a stay in critical care. You can donate or fundraise to help us complete and equip the new centre and give seriously ill patients the care they need.
What it’s like being a critical care patient
“I thought I was in a big factory. A big noisy factory that used my blood to run the noisy machines all around me. I know now the factory workers were the nurses and doctors who were trying to save my life, and the machines were my life support equipment. Strange what your mind does when you are in intensive care. “
Penny, King’s Critical Care patient
Waking up in critical care can be frightening. Hearing is often the first of the five senses to return, so patients may hear alarms and beeps, but they won’t know what these noises mean. They may not be able to see or move. They will be on strong medication which can cause hallucinations. They can become frustrated and aggressive due their confusion, the trauma they’ve suffered, and the strangeness of staying in the same bed for weeks or months, sometimes without even being able to look around.
So it’s not surprising that 80% of critical care patients experience delirium, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety or depression. We want to reduce this number and help our patients do more than simply survive. We want to reduce the damaging effects of staying in critical care and help people get back to their normal life as quickly as possible.
Your donations and fundraising are vital to supporting patient recovery
What we do at King’s
The Trust has one of the largest critical care services in the UK, known worldwide for excellent treatment and care. King’s College Hospital provides specialist emergency cover for 5.5 million people across south east London and England, with the sickest patients being admitted through our Emergency Department and transferred to our critical care units. Some patients stay in critical care for months.
Once a patient is out of danger, we stabilise them, help them to get better and support their rehabilitation. We often stay in touch with them after they leave hospital. This means we know how tough it is for each person to get back to their old self. So we’re building King’s Critical Care Centre and designing it specifically for people with the most serious illnesses and injuries. When it opens in it will revolutionise how we can treat our patients.
“The new Centre will help us do really exciting things for our patients. I can’t wait to see the difference it’ll make.”
King’s Critical Care staff nurse
Building our new Critical Care Centre
Our new Critical Care Centre will be like no other. It will be the largest in the country and will do more than save lives: every part of it will be designed to reduce the damaging effects of staying in critical care, such as delirium and PTSD. To help us achieve this, we’ve asked former patients for their suggestions of how we can make staying in critical care better. Their ideas will help future patients do simple things that keep them involved in life beyond their hospital bed. Ultimately, it will help them recover quicker and better.
A bed with a view
Former patients told us they would have liked a good view while they were in hospital. So in the new building, beds will be next to floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto nearby Ruskin Park. This will flood the building in natural light and allow patients to see the nearby trees. The windows can be opened so patients can feel the breeze.
The ability to look around
Patients also said they wanted to see what’s happening around them. So all beds in the new Centre can be rotated a full 360 degrees by patients, allowing them to look around and choose what they view. Each bed will be surrounded by smart glass panels which patients can turn clear, cloudy or opaque, allowing them to have privacy or to see what’s happening in the Centre.
Keeping in touch using everyday technology
“To say goodnight to my children over the internet would have changed my whole experience of intensive care. It would have reminded me of the person I had been and what I could be again. “
Former King’s Critical Care patient
Spending weeks in critical care can be isolating. So to help patients stay in touch with their loved ones, we’ll be giving them their own tablet connected to the internet. They will be able to use Skype and Facetime to send messages to friends, say good morning and goodnight to their children, and be part of the important things that make up everyday life, like birthdays.
Roof garden
Going outside can completely change how critically ill patients feel, by giving them something different and positive to focus on. Staff say patients also have an increased drive to get better once they’ve had a chance to see normal life going around them, outside of a hospital.
So we’re designing a rooftop garden. Even patients who are on life support will be able to spend time there, thanks to specially-designed critical care beds, monitoring systems and equipment.
Artwork
“Little as we know about the way in which we are affected by form, by colour, and light, we do know this, that they have an actual physical effect. “
Florence Nightingale
Research shows that seeing pictures of trees can make people feel less stressed. So the new building will include artwork throughout that has been inspired by Ruskin Park. This is just part of our efforts to create an environment that promotes recovery and helps reduce the damaging effects of staying in critical care, such as anxiety.
Staff with time to care
Our doctors and nurses will be using a world-leading information system that automatically records and shows patients’ vital signs. This means staff won’t have to spend their valuable time recording and finding the data that they need. Instead, it will free them up to do simple things that make a big difference, such as spending more time talking to patients and their relatives, taking patients outdoors, and helping them focus on getting better.
Helping relatives
“When I visited George I always did the same things. I went through the same door. I bought a cup of tea at the same shop. I said hello to the pictures of the people on the wall. It was my way of keeping him alive. I thought that if I keep doing these things, he won’t die. He won’t leave me. This is how I did my little bit to get him back to me. “
Shirley, relative of a King’s Critical Care patient
Supporting the relatives of our patients is a huge part of what we do, because life is put on hold when someone you love is in critical care. Our new Centre will help us do this by:
- Giving staff more time to talk things through with relatives and to help them understand what to expect.
- Providing a room for relatives where they can relax and get some peace and quiet. Some people spend hours every day by a patient’s bedside, so having a space nearby where they can have time to themselves is really important.
- Enabling relatives to keep in touch with patients, even when they can’t be with them, thanks to internet access at the patient’s bedside.
Help us make life easier for people coping with a seriously ill relative
How you can help
King’s Critical Care Centre will allow us to help patients rebuild their lives, reduce the problems a long stay in hospital can cause and set a new global standard for treating the sickest patients. Our staff will carry out research to demonstrate the difference these changes make, and sharing this knowledge with hospitals throughout the world, to spread these improvements worldwide.