Intensive care transfers.
The demand for intensive care has increased relentlessly over the past 30 years. It is now regarded as a necessity rather than a luxury. The provision of intensive care has lagged behind that demand. Thus, patients who are judged to need intensive care when a bed is unavailable are increasingly transferred to another hospital for such care. The present commentary discusses intensive care transfers and describes a website being trialled in the UK that helps with locating available intensive care beds.
Hopkins
Philip
P
Director of Intensive Care, Barnet Hospital, London, UK.
Wolff
Anthony H
AH
D003422:Critical Care; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D010360:Patient Transfer / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*