title: The need for a regional weaning centre, a one-year survey of intensive care weaning delay in the Northern Region of England.
abstract: Over a period of one year, a weekly telephone survey identified 161 stable patients with weaning delay (defined as patients ventilated for at least 6 h per day for more than 2 weeks) in intensive care units in the Northern Region of England. Their median age was 69 years (range 21-88 years). Sixty patients (37%) were admitted with medical conditions, 89 (55%) were postoperative patients, whereas 12 (8%) were surgical but required non-operative admission. One hundred and thirty (89%) were weaned and discharged from the intensive care unit during the year. Twenty-two (14%) died and two were transferred to the home ventilation service. Seven patients remained ventilated in intensive care at the end of the study period. Twenty patients (12%) required more than 28 days of respiratory support. These patients occupied on average 6.0% of available intensive care unit beds in the region. This study suggests that in the Northern Region of England there are a significant number of stable but ventilator-dependent patients occupying intensive care beds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Unit, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Robson
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Poynter
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Lawler
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Baudouin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003422:Critical Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004739:England; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006275:Health Facility Planning / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015300:Ventilator Weaning / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*