CRITICAL CARE UNITS IN CHILDREN’S HOSPITALS PROVIDING SAFE CARE – BUT STAFF SHORTAGES MEAN BEDS REMAIN CLOSED

Dr Martina Healy, Clinical Lead for the Irish Paediatric Critical Care Audit (IPCCA) today launches the Irish Paediatric Critical Care Audit National Report 2017-2019. Dr Healy highlighted the excellent care provided to sick children in the Paediatric Critical Care Units (PCCUs) in Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin and Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street, which is safe and comparable to international standards. However, areas for improvement are noted such as optimising bed capacity in PCCUs to ensure vital PCCU beds are open and available for Ireland’s sickest children.

The IPCCA was established by the National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA) and reports on the care of patients in PCCUs in Ireland. This is the first report of the IPCCA and outlines activity and benchmarked outcomes of critical care provided to the sickest children in Ireland during 2017 – 2019. It presents data on 4,490 infants, children and adolescents who were cared for across the two PCCUs in Ireland over the 3 year period. The audit also captures data on paediatric patients admitted to adult Intensive Care Units (ICUs), using data from the Irish National ICU Audit.