Who we are

Our team is made up of a Network Manager and Lead Nurse. Clinical Leadership is provided by our two Co-Chairs of the Critical Care Clinical Effectiveness Committee.

What do we do?

We bring together adult critical care services across Greater Manchester. Critical care supports people who are seriously ill and need closer monitoring or specialist treatment that cannot be provided on a general hospital ward. Our aim is to help every patient receive safe, effective and high-quality care, wherever they are treated in Greater Manchester.

We work with hospital teams, NHS organisations and other partners to improve services, support staff education and training, plan for pressures on critical care beds, review information about care and outcomes, and share learning between hospitals. This helps teams learn from one another and provide more consistent care for patients and their families.

We review and assure critical care services against national requirements, professional guidance and agreed standards. These include the D05 Adult Critical Care Service Specification, which sets out what NHS adult critical care services are expected to provide, and the Guidelines for the Provision of Intensive Care Services Version 3 (GPICS 3), which set minimum standards and describe good practice for how intensive care services should be organised, staffed and delivered.

We use service information and feedback from local teams to understand what is working well and where improvements are needed. Our RiCON groups are an important part of this quality improvement work. They bring staff from different hospitals together to discuss safety issues, share good practice and develop practical improvements that can benefit patients across Greater Manchester.

Hospitals within Greater Manchester Critical Care Network

The Critical Care Network team engages with 13 Critical Care units within 12 hospitals across 8 Trusts. These are:

• Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
• East Cheshire NHS Trust
• Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Northern Care Alliance Group
• Stockport NHS Foundation Trust
• Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
• The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
• Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh NHS Foundation Trust

Risk Control Over the Network (RiCON) work streams

The aim of these groups is to improve quality of care & patient safety  within the Critical Care network by allowing different units to share problems and best practice.

There are 6 work streams looking at;

• Medication safety
• Airway safety
• Lung protective ventilation
• Critical Care Transfers
• Morbidity & Mortality
• Infection prevention and control

Collaborative working between critical care units can be helpful as opportunities are given to share problems and concerns. The experiences gained in one unit may prevent problems from developing in other units. Medical and nursing staff from each unit in Greater Manchester meet regularly throughout the year in these forums to share best practice ideas.