High Dependency Unit

High Dependency Unit

The High Dependency Unit (HDU) provides a service of care for very ill or injured patients. Patients on HDU need constant medical support and may require extra monitoring, help with their breathing or they have a severe infection and need to be cared for using specialist equipment or resources.

The High Dependency Unit (HDU) provides a service of care for very ill or injured patients. Patients on HDU need constant medical support and may require extra monitoring, help with their breathing or they have a severe infection and need to be cared for using specialist equipment or resources.

Our HDU consists of 4 combined adult beds, one area is screened with the facility to care for patients vulnerable to infections, however there are no cubicles within the unit.

The unit admits approximately 500 patients per year. Patients are transferred to the unit from all specialities, including ENT, colorectal and upper GI surgery, acute medicine, trauma and orthopaedics. The unit has always done well in national audits of performance.

If a relative of yours is admitted to HDU, he/she will be cared for by a specially trained and qualified nurse at all times, this nurse may also be caring for another patient at the same time. The nurse may need to assume full responsibility for a patient’s care, this is because the patient is unable, through illness or injury, to take part in their own care. Each patient’s privacy, dignity, religious and cultural needs will be respected at all times.

A shared care system operates on the unit. This means that the consultant on the ward who your relative was originally admitted under and the HDU consultant anaesthetists will share the medical management of your relative.

Caring for a high dependency patient is very different to caring for a ward patient. Often HDU patients are heavily reliant on the nursing and medical team and therefore you may encounter delays in visiting while we carry out essential nursing or medical procedures, we apologise in advance for these delays and assure you that any delays will be kept to a minimum.

---