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16/09/2013

Children's Deaths In Intensive Care At All Time Low

A new report has shown that death rates in children's intensive care units are at an all-time low.

The figures come despite an increase in admissions.

The Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network revealed that the death rate was 3.8% in 2012, with admissions rising by 5% from 18,596 in 2011 to 19,516 in 2012.

However, the report also said that out-of-hours staffing levels were often not being met.

The study was commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) and carried out by the Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (PICANet).

PICANet collected data from 31 institutions providing paediatric intensive care. They looked at details of nearly 58,000 admissions to these units involving more than 43,000 individual children, aged between 0 and 15 years, from 2010 to 2012. This included where each child was admitted, their diagnosis and the treatment they received, how long they remained in intensive care and the eventual outcome.

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Dr Roger Parslow, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Leeds, said: "With increasing birth rates, the pressure on the paediatric intensive care service has increased but it is clear that standards of care are not dropping in relation to mortality."

When it came to staff levels, the analysis found that 90% of units had the required level of medical staffing during the day - one consultant for eight to 10 beds. However, only 60% of units had the required level of cover at night and at the weekends, while fewer than three quarters of units have adequate nurse staffing levels, with many using agency staff to make up numbers when necessary.

Dr Hilary Cass, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, welcomed the report.

She said: "It is encouraging to see that death rates in children's intensive care units are at an all-time low, despite the number of admissions rising by 5%.

"However, it is clear from today's report, that maintaining adequate levels of staffing through the night remains a concern, with just 60% of units having the recommended level of cover.

"Children deserve the same high level of care whatever time of day or night they are admitted to hospital, whether that be Monday at 5pm or Sunday at 3am.

"So while this report does show improvements, we must not be complacent.

"We must continue to look at ways to improve children's health services by rolling out models of care which we know will provide children with a much better NHS - increasing the consultant workforce so we can provide consultant-led care, which in turn, will drive up quality and save even more lives."

(JP/CD)

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"A new report has shown that death rates in children's intensive care units are at an all-time low."