Comprehensive Critical Care: a national strategic framework in all but name

Excerpt

Intensive care in the United Kingdom has been undergoing a slow revolution. Since 1994 we have seen the establishment of the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC), the Intercollegiate Board for Training in Intensive Care Medicine, and the development of the national competency-based training programme in intensive care which was approved on 18 Apri 2002, confirming intensive care as a multidisciplinary speciality. There have also been two important national reviews of service provision in intensive care. The first was the publication by the National Audit Office entitled 'Critical to Success'. The second was a comprehensive review of adult critical care in England by a national expert group, commissioned by the Department of Health, and published under the title of Comprehensive Critical Care (available at the address above). This document will have an important impact on the development of critical care in the UK, and its recommendations will be of interest to health service planners in many countries. …