Referring to our centre
Bristol is one of six centrally-funded ECMO centres in
England.
For referrers
All ECMO
referrals continue to go through the national referral
website.
Your
referral will be handled by a Bristol ECMO consultant, who will
mobilise a retrieval team if the candidate is suitable for
ECMO. Typical patients suitable for ECMO include
those with reversible disease associated with severe
hypoxaemia (e.g. PaO2/FiO2 < 13.3kPa) or severe
hypercapnic acidosis (e.g. pH < 7.20) despite conventional
support.
If your referral
is time critical or you have difficulty submitting an online
referral for any reason, please call the Retrieve Adult Critical
Care Service on 0300 030 2222. Please clearly tell the operator
your hospital location and state that you are making an ECMO
referral, and they will connect you to the duty Bristol ECMO
coordinator.
We welcome
discussions about any patient with potentially reversible severe
acute respiratory failure, particularly those in whom adequate
arterial blood gases cannot be achieved using lung protective tidal
volumes and pressures.
We encourage
early referral and provide tailored solutions according to the
requirements of the patient and referring centre. The
potential benefits of ECMO as a lung protective strategy diminish
after about one week of conventional ventilation at high pressure
and high-inspired oxygen.
Please download the supporting documents below:
ECLS Severity scoring
sheet
ECMO Referring Hospital
Checklist
High consequence
infectious patient
Pressure ulcer grade
recording chart
