Hopkins Philip, Wolff Anthony H
Director of Intensive Care, Barnet Hospital, London, UK.
Crit Care. 2002 Apr;6(2):123-4. doi: 10.1186/cc1470. Epub 2002 Mar 1.
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.