Critical Care Outreach Team

The outreach team is a multidisciplinary team comprising of senior nurses with a background in  intensive care. The team works closely with the nursing and anaesthetic staff in the intensive care  units at both the Calderdale Royal (CRH) and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary (HRI) sites.

The team was established in 2004 in order to support ward staff in the detection and management  of critically ill patients. Ward nursing staff use a Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) in the  assessment of all adult patients within the trust. If a patient’s MEWS score is of concern then they  are immediately referred to both a doctor and a member of the critical care outreach team.

Our primary aim is to ensure that these patients receive appropriate and timely treatment in a  suitable area. This may be on a ward or involve transfer to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) or  Intensive Care Unit (ICU). We also provide a follow up service to support the continued recovery of  patients when they leave the HDU/ICU areas and return to the ward. Patients who have had a stay  of four or more days in the HDU/ICU will receive an information booklet, critical care follow up  information and be invited back for clinic appointment six months after leaving the HDU/ICU unit.

For those patients who have had a stay of four or more days in the HDU/ICU units, we run a follow  up clinic

Patients and their family are invited to the follow up clinic six months after leaving the HDU/ICU Clinics are held in the outpatients department every month alternating between CRH and HRI and  are jointly run by the critical care outreach team and the intensive care staff.

The aim of the clinic is to give patients and their family the opportunity to discuss any problems or  concerns they may have in relation to their stay on the HDU/ICU. Trust staff are available to offer  advice and if necessary to refer to appropriate doctors and other health care professionals.

On the Intensive Care Units at CRH and HRI.

The critical care outreach co-ordinator is Gill Runkee available on: 07766 905571.
To contact the outreach team at HRI call 01484 342000 and ask switchboard to bleep 253.
To contact the outreach team at CRH call 01422 357171 and ask switchboard to bleep 8850.

The team are senior members of nursing staff, all with extensive knowledge and experience in the  field of critical care. The staff have recognised teaching and assessing qualifications and are ALERT  TM trained. Individual staff members have undertaken a variety of graduate qualifications relevant  to the development of both themselves and the role of the outreach practitioner. These include ALS  (Advanced Life Support) training, specialist degree programmes, short courses and advanced  assessment modules.