Supporting a Children's Critical Care Room - for Stabilisation and Resuscitation 

The Luton and Dunstable University Hospital’s Paediatric Department is one of the busiest in the area. Each year, approximately 150 of our child inpatient require specialist intensive care. Currently, acutely unwell or unstable patients have to be resuscitated in open bays or cramped cubicles, which makes running an efficient resuscitation very challenging for our staff and distressing for other families and patients to see.

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Charity is supporting clinical teams to raise funds to redevelop and refurbish an existing treatment room to create a new resuscitation and stabilisation room. This will provide a dedicated, spacious area which can accommodate a larger multi-disciplinary team with ready to access specialist equipment. This will allow patients to be stabilised in a safer and more suitable environment.  

Why is this project needed?

Resuscitation of a young patient can often take a number of hours, especially if there is a delay in specialist staff arriving from other areas of the hospital. Having a fully equipped resuscitation room on the paediatric ward will allow these patients to remain on the ward so that nursing staff are not re-deployed to other areas (including ITU and theatres) to provide ongoing care for these patients, thereby resulting in potential staffing shortages on the ward and staff working in unfamiliar environments.

Most importantly, in our current set up, critically ill patients are resuscitated in the open bays on our wards or in cramped side rooms. This can be very distressing and worrying for other patients and families and lacks privacy and dignity for the critically ill patient and their family. A dedicated resuscitation room would enable all patients and their families to receive the best possible treatment and care, whilst ensuring complete privacy.

Please support our appeal to create a dedicated children's resuscitation & stabilisation room!

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Charity need to raise £78,000 to enable the hospital to create a fully equipped paediatric resuscitation and stabilisation room. This project will have an enormous impact on the care provided to acutely unwell young patients and their families.

Dr Seema Sukhani, Consultant Paediatrician and Laurell Lockitt, HDU/ Acute Nurse Practitioner said: “The addition of a Paediatric resuscitation and stabilisation room within our Children’s Ward will make an incredible difference to the care we are able to provide to acutely unwell patients. The room will offer a safe and functional space for our clinical staff to work quickly and efficiently, and will provide much needed dignity and privacy for our patients and families. Please support Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Charity to raise money for this vital appeal.”